The Rogue Ruler
by AmiraStarr
Summary: When nightmares and other terrors start haunting Rogue, the young woman begins to fear she is losing her mind. But as her true past comes to the surface, she starts to learn she is more powerful then she could have ever imagined. [Newer chapters have improved quality : ) ]
1. Nightmares of Fire

**I do not own the X-Men, but I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**This story world has a few minor changes from the original show. Gambit is now a member of the X-men, Rogue has Mrs. Marvel's abilities, and the main cast from the show are attending high school still.**

**Thank you for reading my story and if you enjoy the work please feel free to offer a review.**

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_There was fire._

_Though the world around me was dark I could feel the heat of the flames washing over my body. With each step forward the flames grew and became a strong searing pain as they flooded over me. But no matter the pain I found I could not stop moving my feet forward. The bare appendages trudged on bringing me closer and closer to the source of the pain. _

_The silent air around me was suddenly lit up with piercing screams and howls of maniacal laughter. I opened my mouth to scream my own terrible scream of pain as the fire still increased its attack on my body, but I was drowned out by the thousands of dead moans and yells that surrounded me. Few words stuck out to me as the screams all started to take on a similar high pitched tone, but I could make out a few that were made from voices I did not see or know.._

"_It is all ours!!" _

"_Run Maggots!! Run to your Deaths!!"_

_As the words grew louder so too did the flames, causing me to finally collapse onto the ground. I curled my hands around my ears and felt moist tears roll down my cheeks at a quick speed. Why was I here? What was this place?! And why through all the pain of fire and screams did I feel the greatest pain was in my heart?! Finally I could stand this chaos no longer. I forced my eyes to open and found myself staring into a large room where five bodies lay strewn about with their disconnected heads laying randomly around them. As I watched the blood start to pool on the floor I could no longer stand the gruesome scene. Without a thought my mouth opened and a yell escaped that I didn't recognize at all… _

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The next thing I knew my eyes were staring out to find pairs of red and blue eyes staring at me with shock and concern written over them. It took a moment but slowly I found my ability to blink and close my still agape mouth again. As the air conditioner in the room kicked into gear I felt the tears on my check become like ice water, but I did not trust my hands to not shake so I left the tears alone.

"Cherie?" The red eyed Cajun spoke up first and seemed to fight the urge to wipe my tears away.

"What…" I paused and scooted back on my bed to put more distance between us since the only thing keeping my mutant skin from theirs was a flimsy pair of pajamas and a blanket, "What are ya'll staring at?" Slowly I forced my body to calm itself by taking very slow and deliberate breaths. Ever since my powers had flared out of control last summer the entire mansion had started walking on egg shells around me. The general belief was probably I would flip out any day now and kill them all. I couldn't look out of control in front of anyone. There would be no way for me to stay at the mansion if the professor saw me as a danger to his other students.

"Rogue are you like okay?" It was Kitty, my roommate and self-proclaimed best friend, who piped up this time with a great deal of worry in her tone.

"Yeah," I rubbed my cheek to get rid of any evidence I had cried then looked into Kitty's large blue eyes, "I just had a bad dream that's all."

"Sounded like a pretty bad one to me stripes."

I looked up to find Logan standing in my doorway with a mix of concern and annoyance on his rough face. I knew exactly why he was annoyed, the very reason was sitting on the edge of my bed and still staring at me, but I really didn't care at the moment. "Well they ain't normally pleasant." Logan snorted as he took in my remark with no insult to himself. He and I had always been a bit similar in strange ways. Both loners, both with temper issues, and both with pasts we had no power to control. But, either way he knew when I was not in the mood for sharing things, unlike the two worried mutants sitting on my bed.

_Rogue? Rogue, are you alright? _

A voice besides my own suddenly jostled my thoughts. I knew that it's owner was most likely on the other side of the mansion, but out of habit I looked around for the source for a moment or two. "I'm fine Professor. No need to worry." I spoke my words out as slowly and steady as I thought them, in hope that my point would get across to not only the professor but also to the three people staring at me.

_Well_, the professor seemed to sense my desire to be alone because he did not question my answer, _if you do decided you would like to talk my door is open Rogue._

_Thanks_, I thought it quickly and let my attention leave the Professor. I knew he was a man of ethics so there was no chance he would continue hanging around my head in search of some cause for the dream I had. No, he would leave that 'joyous' occasion for the next day when I would have trouble finding an excuse to not talk to him.

As I watched the three sets of eyes trained to catch my every move, I forced out a yawn and tried my best to look sleepy. Kitty was the only one who bought the ploy unfortunately. "Rogue, why don't you like try and go back to sleep? Maybe you'll have a better dream this time. And besides you need to be fully awake for our science presentation tomorrow."

"Oh yea," I groaned out the words as the sudden memory of our simply made science experiment came to mind, "I'm gonna need all the sleep I can get for that."

Remy chuckled softly to himself as he watched the look of annoyance grow on my face. "What you laughing at Cajun?" In truth, I did not care one way or the other what Remy LeBeau thought of anything. The annoying bayou boy was always following me and spewing words of love that he knew were impossible feats to someone with my 'gift'.

"Nothing, Cherie. Remy just thinking that you look amusing with your face drawn up like that."

He chuckled again as I tried to force my scowl to relax and become a neutral expression. "If you're done making fun of me you can leave now." I growled out the words to him knowing in the back of my mind it was a mistake to show he irritated me.

"Aw Cherie," the Cajun looked at me as if I had wounded his pride or something, "Remy never make fun of you." He grinned widely and in spite of myself I felt my heart skip a beat. "Remy just trying to put a smile on your face. Can't be cranky about that now."

I forced myself to furrow my brow, "Yes. I. can." The words were growled out in such annoyance that even Logan who had been giving Remy death glares chuckled. Remy merely smiled at me still and patted the part of my leg hidden underneath the blanket, "Alright be mad at Remy, He just wants you to feel better," He smiled that crooked smile I enjoyed then leaned close to me to whisper, "And Remy thinks it could help if you dreamed of him. So why not leave a memory no?" His hand patted my covered thigh and gave it a soft squeeze.

My hand came out before I even realized it and punched him so hard he fell off the bed, "You can't go more than three minutes without trying something can you Cajun?" I groaned and rubbed my temples. The boy who was on his feet, already rubbing his most likely sore stomach when I glared up at him. This really was typical Remy. Every time I thought he truly was a sweet guy he had to make some kind of stupid move or something. Why couldn't he be happy with us just being friends?? Then again, in my heart I knew I kinda liked the fact he pulled these types of stunts on only me. Sure I could never date him or anything… but it was kinda nice at times to feel special.

"Can't blame Remy for trying." He chuckled at me and gave me a smile before Logan walked over to him obviously growing tired of the usual antics. "As much as I want to see Stripes beat you to a pulp, we'll all have to wait until morning." Logan's arms crossed over his chest and he stared the taller Cajun square in the eyes, "But for now," He growled and pointed a thumb behind him to the door, "You should be headed off to your own room."

Remy seemed unfazed by Logan's gruff manner as he turned to me and smiled, "Looks like Remy must be going now." He offered a smile to me softly but kept his distance, "Good night Cherie." And with his goodbye finished the young man turned and walked gracefully past Logan and down the hall.

"Stinking Cajun…" Logan grumbled to himself and I knew he was fighting the urge to kick Remy into a wall or something violent. Why Logan seemed so ticked off with Remy I never really figured out. Kitty always seemed to think he was acting like a dad or something when he would tell Remy to stay away from me… but I never figured Logan would want the dad title. But, then again who really knew what Logan wanted?

"Logan?"

"Yea Stripes?" He turned to me with as kind a face as Logan ever wore.

"You mind if we go back to bed now?" I looked over to see Kitty sitting on top of her bed with a facial expression that seemed to reveal she was practically asleep already. Logan glanced to Kitty then looked back at me, "Sure thing. See ya in the morning." As he left our room at a much slower pace then necessary I offered him a small smirk, "I'll be fine Logan. I promise." Logan gave a gruff laugh like noise and shook his head, "I know Stripes." He shut the door then and headed off to who knows where. Well, I had a good idea he was going to make sure Remy was gone first, but after that no one knew.

As Kitty went to snuggle under her covers I lay back on my bed and glanced up at the ceiling. With no one to distract me I couldn't avoid not analyzing my nightmare. I knew enough from the special our health class had watched on sleep too know that dreams were just things that people were concerned about or thought a lot about. It was all the workings of the self conscious… But how could I have thought about something as violent as being on fire and decapitation? I have never been through something like that and I don't think I have even seen it on television. So where would that come from?!

I let my eyes close as the questions began to overwhelm me and give me a sinking feeling in my stomach. Whatever this dream was, it was probably best to forget about it…. It was just a dream anyway…


	2. Plans to Kill a Cajun

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. **

**Thank you to all who read the first chapter. I hope you enjoy this next installment.**

**And I am sorry for any grammatical errors that may have escaped me while proofreading this chapter. **

I must have drifted off sometime during the night because the next thing I knew Kitty was running around our room nosily. One of my eyes cracked open to see what she was up to, but the bright lights of the room burned and forced my eye shut, "Turn off the lights…" I groaned to Kitty and heard her feet come closer to my bed.

"Rogue!" She screeched out my name and tossed something soft onto my head, "Get up! We slept in."

Luckily for Kitty I was too exhausted to put up much of a fight against her demands. Slowly my body forced itself into an upright position and my hands grasped the item she had thrown at me. It took a moment or two for my eyes to adjust to the light, but once they had I found myself staring at a white long sleeve shirt that was decorated on the sleeves with black embroidery. When had I bought this? I blinked and turned the white garment around in my hands.

"You never wear anything I get you."

My attention turned to Kitty who was busily digging through my closet with a shocked look on her face. "I wear them." My voice came out lifelessly as I pulled my body out of bed and stumbled to my closet. But when I got into arms reach of my clothes Kitty thrust a pair of black pants out at me. "Move Kitty." I glanced at my clock and noticed that she was right about us running late, "I don't have time to argue fashion with ya."

"You know," Kitty closed my closet doors and gave me a smug expression, "If you did laundry once in a while you might actually have a small chance in that argument." The scowl on my face seemed to amuse her, until her blue eyes spotted the clock on my dresser. "Now hurry up Rogue!" The valley girl dug her heels into the carpeted floor and tried to push me towards the door of our room, "You are not going to leave me to present our project alone."

I rolled my eyes as Kitty tried so hard to make me move. Did the fact I had super strength mean anything to her? After a small chuckle at her determined but fruitless effort I forced my body to head for the door. As much fun as skipping first period science with Mr. Brine would be, it would not be worth the angry valley girl rants I would be subjected to later.

After a far too quick shower and a rushed breakfast that consisted of a piece of untoasted bread, I found myself heading out towards the garage as usual. If it had been up to me I would have long ago stopped hitching a ride with Scott and the others. But due to my annoying plan to try and act normal, I couldn't bring myself to fly off by myself to school. That act alone would undoubtedly earn me lectures and questions from every adult and stuck up member of the mansion. So for now, I would suffer through the shallow conversations and immature antics the car ride to school held for me.

"Rogue?" I looked towards the front of the car as my name was called and found Jean staring at me with concern in her eyes, "You okay?"

The strangest thing about Jean, to me at least, was how friendly she had become towards me these days. She claimed that we had more in common than either of us realized since we both had uncontrollable 'power bursts' come to our system. I had been able to see back then that she wanted some kind of truce between us, so I stifled the urge to inform her that after _her_ 'power burst' no one ran away screaming she would kill them. "I'm fine Jean." I said the words curtly hoping the subject would be dropped.

"You are probably tired…" Kurt added softly and looked at me with curious eyes.

"It didn't sound like you had much sleep last night." Scott added his own opinion as we pulled into the school parking lot.

The engine quieted as Scott pulled into a parking space and turned the car off. I swear they must have arranged something before I got in the car, because all their eyes turned to stare at me. I rolled my own eyes and climbed out of the car without bothering to give them a second look, "If this intervention is over I have places to be." As I walked away from the group of concerned mutants, I could hear Kitty in the background calling my name in hope that I would come back to them. There was no chance of me turning around now though. I did not want or need to be watched over like some psych ward patient.

As I reached my locker I was not surprised to find a certain Cajun leaning against the next locker over. "Penny for your thoughts?" He asked as his eyes scanned my face.

I laughed half heartedly to myself and tried to open my lock, "Trust me, you don't want 'em."

Remy chuckled softly as I fumbled with my lock, "Remy does, Cherie." He moved my gloved hands softly from the lock and with a few expert twists cracked the code.

"You know my code?"

He shrugged, "Remy knows many lots of things."

I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time today, and made a mental note to change my lock later. Remy watched me grab my books and once I had everything out of my locker he pushed the door shut and snapped my lock back on to door. I sighed growing slightly annoyed with Remy. Then again maybe it wasn't all his fault. I hadn't been in the best mood to start with I guess. "If you value your life Remy LeBeau you will leave me alone." Though I had wished I could make the threat sound credible I knew it fell short.

"Hmm," Remy seemed to muse my threat seriously then snatched my books out of my arms.

"You got a death wish or something Cajun?"

Remy placed a hand on my lower back and tried to get me to start walking forward with him. I resisted at first but as the students in the halls started to head off to class in a hurry I knew I didn't have much time to resist. Once I relented and started to move forward with him he dropped his hand and gave me that crooked smile of his, "Remy happens to love life Cherie. He just weighed his options and chose the one he could live with."

"Options? Life and Death ain't exactly hard enough to pick between that they can be options."

Remy chuckled softly and made us take a left turn before answering, "It wasn't that simple."

"Sure…" I drug the word out thinking the Cajun had once again gone off the deep end.

"Really," he stopped our walk and looked down at me from behind his dark sunglasses, "As much as Remy enjoys life, he knows he couldn't have much of one without you there Cherie."

I was so busy trying to grasp his words that I barely noticed his hand rest on the wall behind my head. "So," he continued still staring me in the eyes, "if staying is death and leaving you is practically death as well, Remy would rather face his death by staying near you." Slowly the Cajun leaned his head closer to mine. I found the world had grown strangely quiet as if everything around me had been frozen. My brain tried to make sense of the protest my subconscious was kicking up, but it didn't seem to matter. _This is wrong… _my brain tried to protest louder; _There is something wrong about thi-_

A shrill bell sounded through the hallways then and my mind snapped back into action. I pushed Remy away from me with a little more force then necessary, and took a few deep breaths. "What the hell are you trying to do?!" I hissed at him, but Remy just gave me his usual smirk. Did he not realize how easily I could kill him?! Was he suicidal or what?!

"Here are your books Cherie." His tone was more formal then and the smirk on his face changed to a neutral expression, which meant there had to be someone he did not like around us. I took my books and turned around to find an annoyed looking Mr. Brine staring at me and Remy from the doorway of his classroom.

"If you are done chit chatting with your boyfriend young lady, the rest of the class is ready to begin presenting."

I groaned as the class inside snickered amongst themselves and whispered to each other. "He is not my boyfriend," was the only defense I could give as I trudged into the classroom and took my seat beside Kitty. After setting my books down on the lab table I could hear the softest of chuckles come from the hallway, until Mr. Brine closed the door.

As I slumped into my chair I made a mental list of things to do after school; 1) Change my lock combination and 2) Beat Remy LeBeau to a pulp.


	3. Lime Green Catastrophies

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men.**

**Thank you to all who read and/or reviewed my story so far. I thank you all for putting up with my glitches when it comes to proofreading. I will work on checking my work twice before I submit the chapter. **

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Science class always had the ability to drag slower as each second passed. It was probably the prime location to prove that time could in fact freeze and leave people trapped in the same boring place for eternity. The class was even slower, if that was possible, on project presentation days. The pattern was always the same old thing; no one would volunteer, Mr. Brine would pick someone to go, the students would stutter and mumble through their project, then Mr. Brine would critique them with his own unique brand of cynicism. The funny thing about Mr. Brine was that even after running his class this way for countless years, he still couldn't figure out why the students never voted for him in the teacher of the year contest.

I was not gifted in science by any stretch of the imagination, so I already had a strike against me in Mr. Brine's eyes. The only reason I had even passed the class so far was because of my lab partner. Though I never could understand how she obtained it, Kitty had a knack for science that impressed even Mr. Brine. It seemed completely out of Kitty's character to me, but I was not going to question the one thing that was helping me pass out of this high school. I knew better then to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The projects were presented in the usual slow rhythm which was only interrupted when Mr. Brine decided to add his negative opinion. He was particularly hard on a group of jocks who had tried to pass off a volcano from a student last year as their own work. After yelling at the group and giving the entire class a lecture on how ethics were declining with each passing year he called Kitty and I to present our project.

Kitty walked confidently up to the front of the room carrying our different sized containers of colored liquids in her arms. I walked slowly after her with our tri-fold in hand. One thing I did enjoy about science was the fact Mr. Brine had a tendency to call me to present last. I wondered if it was because he didn't want to hear me speak any more then I wanted to hear him. But, either way it often gave my group the excuse to hurry through the presentation right before the bell would ring and release the class.

I set up the tri-fold and arranged the containers of liquid as Kitty had told me to yesterday afternoon. After everything was set up I tried my best to stand somewhat behind the tri-fold and stay out of sight while Kitty addressed the class. This was something I didn't like, having all the eyes in a room full of high school seniors on me. I tried to tell myself they were day dreaming or texting on their phones instead of paying attention, but part of me knew my luck wasn't that good.

"Our project," Kitty smiled and seemed to actually enjoy talking to the class, "is about the relationship between-"

"Excuse this interruption teachers," the speaker by the door crackled to life and gave off a high pitched squeal noise, "But we need you to send these students to the front office immediately. Jake Rogers,Katherine Pryde, and George Garcia. Thank you."

I felt my mind blow into a panic like mode as the screeching speaker went quiet once more. I barely understood what our project was about! There was no way in hell I could present this without Kitty!

"Take the hall pass and go onto the office Miss Pryde." Mr. Brine pointed towards his desk which held a bunch of pre-signed hall passes since he didn't want to waste time signing them during class, "Your partner can present the project to the class alone."

Kitty looked at Mr. Brine and nodded her head curtly before turning to mouth a desperate apology to me. I watched her grab the hall pass off his cluttered desk and turn to me to give me one last word or two. "You'll be fine Rogue. I know you can do this." She smiled at me then left the room. I can do this?? Who did Kitty think she was talking to?! My eyes scanned the classroom and I could see the seniors were thinking the same thing. It was no surprise I sucked at science and the thought of me with chemicals I probably didn't understand was apparently joyful to them. I took a deep breath and forced myself to try and calm down before the words began to tumble out of my mouth.

Amazingly I was able to mumble through the project with some ease. Maybe I had paid better attention then I thought…

"Through our studies on these chemicals," I picked up a container of violet liquid in my right hand and a container of red liquid in my other hand, "My partner and I proved that they have severe reactions only when combined wit-"

A yell suddenly invaded my mind and caused me to let out a pained groan and flinch. The yell kept going on and on as if whoever was yelling had no need to stop and take a breath. But as the voice continued I started to notice different pitches and tones, signaling that it was more than just one person or thing making then noise.

But as quickly as the yell appeared it disappeared and left only the normal sounds of the classroom around me. I opened my eyes and saw that the students were staring at me with curious and bored expressions. Mr. Brine merely cleared his throat and gave me a hand signal to move along with my project. It was as if the whole room had heard nothing… But they had to have heard the yell right? The blank stares that met mine gave me the only answer I needed. I was the only one who had heard anything…

"Is something wrong?" Mr. Brine stared at me with an annoyed expression as if he thought I was stalling on purpose.

"No, it's nothing." I apologized and turned around to set the chemicals I was holding down, "As I was saying before, they react with- AH!" I groaned loudly as the yelling started up at a higher volume in my head. The noise grew so loud that I was certain I would be deaf when it ever stopped. But the noise in my head wasn't my biggest problem by far, since my hands chose that moment to betray me and let the chemicals slip out of their grasp and onto the table that held all of the other chemicals.

To add insult to injury the screams in my head once again disappeared and left me with a large mix of chemicals that were pooling together on the table. "Crap!" I jumped back as the various chemicals escaped their broken containers and started to create the very reaction Kitty and I had planned to tell the class about. Covering the large wooden table was a lime green jelly like slime that appeared to be letting off some type of smoke.

"So that is how they make cafeteria food!" One of the senior boys announced to the now giggling senior class. The laughter increased for a moment until the smell started to fully coat the room with its powerful stench. The laughs died out and a large amount of gagging noises were heard, as the students grabbed their things and ran out the door holding their noses.

I could smell the stench better than any of them from my position at the front of the room, but I was to frozen to move. As I watched the slime covered table I had a pretty good feeling Mr. Brine was planning on strangling me. After taking a breath through my mouth to try and avoid the smell I turned to face the teacher who was giving me death glares. "I…" I grabbed my books off my desk quickly just in case I would have to make a run for it, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Don't bother," Mr. Brine rubbed his temples and stared at me with anger, "Just leave the room."

"I could clean it up or something if you wan-"

"Go." He ordered the command with such anger that I was actually taken aback slightly.

I didn't bother to offer any more apology or defense for my case. There was no use in it really. My best defense was to tell my teacher I heard voices in my head and thus dropped dangerous chemicals on your table. That would probably be worse of an idea then trying to present the project myself had been. I could just imagine trying to explain the fact I heard voices in my head to my teacher. I would have been better off just locking myself up in a padded room.  


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	4. Should Have Let Him Drown

**Disclaimer: I do not own X-men**

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my work.**

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The rest of the day seemed to be set in crappy mode. In every class I attended strange things seemed to happen. In math I somehow managed to burn my homework to a black crisp (through my gloves I might add). The teacher had been pretty ticked about my missing assignment, but instead of giving me detention she decided it would be fair to deduct ten points from my next test grade. I had half a mind to just give her the ashes of my assignment that were hidden deep in the darkest part of my backpack.

Gym provided its own challenges since every time I ran around the jogging track I somehow got a burst of speed that left the others in my dust. This extra speed wouldn't have been so bad though, if it hadn't gone in and out of my system at a fast rate. I lost count of how many times I crashed on the track as my body seemed to have its own internal speed war.

By the time sixth period came around I was almost certain that my mind was proclaiming mutiny or I had just lost whatever shred of sanity I had left. Luckily, for me, English was apparently going to be quiet. Miss Mertz handed us quizzes on a reading assignment I had completely forgotten to look at and demanded we stay silent. I had almost forgotten what silence was like, since I had been battling a rumble of voices coming in and out of my head all day. After having dealt with the voices and my body's power spurts all day I was more than happy to have a chance to sit and think about what the hell was going on.

But of course the world proved to be against me yet again. No more than five minutes after the start of our quiz, a queen of hearts playing card floated expertly onto my desk. I stared at the card for a moment, and then pushed it to the side of my desk. As my thoughts started back up on the matter at hand I began to wonder if I should mention this to the professor. Maybe it would be best not to mention it. It wasn't like I was out of control… I could calm the powers if I focused hard enough. A fact I had learned during the mess that had been history class.

I pondered a few other options for no longer than a minute. My eyes closed and a soft sigh escaped my lips. As I opened my eyes once again I found myself staring at another heart card. I grumbled at the ace of hearts and shoved it and the queen under my desk. I spared Remy, sitting quietly beside me, a quick glance and found him staring at his quiz with a big smile spread across his face. The little twerp took advantage of my distraction and placed another card on my desk so quickly I barely noticed it land.

I furrowed my brow and shifted in my chair just enough to be able to kick him, but stopped as a sudden pain started to grow in my hands. I grimaced and let out a slow breath to keep myself from letting loose a long line of profanities.

I didn't have to look to my right to know that Remy's eyes were staring at me through his shades. I forced myself to look calm though it felt as if there were razor blades clawing at my knuckles. Remy's face was blatantly staring at me with a look of concern and worry. I couldn't remember the last time his lips had been pushed into such a thin, nervous line. As the pain in my hand surged more forcefully despite my efforts to calm it, I bit my tongue and took the only escape route I could think of.

My pencil moved quickly across the paper circling any answer it came across. I was in no mood to even read the directions, since the voices were starting to kick up another protest. After a moment or two I grabbed the paper and headed up to the teachers desk.

Miss Mertz looked at me in confusion as I placed my quiz on her desk and hurriedly spat out, "Can I go to the restroom??"

"Shh," Miss Mertz quieted the voice I didn't realize was loud since my head was conducting its own scream parade, "Go ahead Rogue."

I didn't wait for another word from the teacher before taking off from the crowded room. If my powers were going to explode on me, I damn well wasn't going to let it happen in front of witnesses!

The hallways were empty so I let my tired feet come to a sudden halt by the gym lockers on the other side of the school. Luckily my screaming mind was starting to quiet down once more. But even though the volume was turned down in my head the pain in my hands started to increase yet again. I let out short breaths in quick succession as the razors in my knuckles started to tear at my skin and come into the light. "What the hell?!" I hissed under my breath as inch by painful inch the razor like claws started to jut out of my hands. I cussed between my short breaths in growing volume. But, even in the state I was in, my common sense kicked in just enough to remind me how chaotic it would be if the students left their classes and found me here with claws and bleeding hands. So, with a groan I forced myself to duck into the closest door to me.

I looked around the room I had entered and couldn't help but be amazed by the sight of the large indoor pool housed there. The school had decided to put one in last semester, but I had never seen it before now. Only a few students had actually swum in it since the thing had a bad habit of being a wet piece of junk, as the P.E. coach called it. Because it was usually closed it was rare to ever see a student nearby, so it seemed like the perfect hiding spot. I ducked behind one of the large sets of metal bleachers in the room and focused on trying to retract the claws sticking out of my knuckles. After a few minutes of deep breathing and focus I managed to get the claws to retract. The only evidence left on my hands was some small cuts that resembled paper cuts. I guess that meant my body was playing with the healing power now. "Finally…" the words escaped my mouth in one breath as I leaned my head against the cold bleachers.

"God, what a wimp!"

The words startled me out of my calm moment and drew my attention immediately. I wondered for a brief moment if the voice was another from my head, but as I gazed out towards the pool I noticed that there were two angry looking senior boys standing over a scared looking freshman. This didn't look too good from my view point.

"I told you to stay away from my girl!" The taller of the seniors yelled at the freshman who looked close to tears.

The freshman curled into a defensive pose on the floor after one of the boys shoved him down. He shook so hard I wondered if it made him dizzy. "I didn't know she was your girl!!" The boy whimpered out his words and tried to hold his hands up in innocence, "I'm sorry!! I didn't know!"

I rolled my eyes as the story explained itself before my eyes. It seemed pretty idiotic to me. Two eighteen year olds picking on a freshman who looked like he had barely reached the five foot mark. I felt a stirring in my gut and knew that I couldn't leave the kid to fight this battle all alone. Maybe if he hadn't been out numbered, out height-ed, and out muscled I could have turned my back on him. But after being an x-men for this long, even I had a strange pity for some humans.

"You know," I walked out of my hiding place and waited until my strides brought me to rest between the seniors and the kid, "I don't think this is solving anything."

The boys snorted as they looked at my confident face. "What's it to you?" The shorter male senior stared at me with a threatening look.

I smiled at him finding it quite entertaining that they were trying to be so tough. "He apologized. Case closed." I stared each boy in the eyes and wondered if they would be stupid enough to try and fight me.

"I don't think this is any of your business." The tall senior stared me down and flexed his muscles as if to scare me.

Come on. I took a fighting stance and hoped he would make the first move. I would be more than happy to beat him to a pulp. It could possibly make up for the sucky day I had been having.

"Move girl!" the two seniors took a step closer to me, but I did not move. I scowled at them and was ready to pounce until I heard a quick scream come from behind me.

"HELP!!"

The splash that followed the yell told me all I needed to know. The freshman, unlike me, had decided to make the stupid move and back up when they approached. I guess it never crossed his mind that the only thing behind us was a pool. The boy flopped around in the water with ungraceful strokes and kicks. I turned to the senior boys hoping they would offer help in saving the boy, but they had already took off across the room for the exit.

"Wimps..." I grumbled and quickly pulled off my shoes before diving into the pool after the now sinking freshman.

The boy had sunk quickly to the bottom of the pool, despite his hard kicks and arm movements. I wrapped an arm around him easily enough and started to swim both of us back up to the surface. With my strength he was easy to carry, but he kept up the effort to try and swim ungracefully, so it was a bit awkward to move my own body. By the time I reached the top I was tired of the annoying kicks the kid was still giving me, so I tossed him out of the water and onto the pools edge. Once he was out I started to pull myself up from the cold water.

The boy sputtered and coughed in his own puddle of water. I felt somewhat bad for the kid since he seemed to really be hacking up a lot of chlorine water. "You okay?" I leaned down to check on him, but was distracted by a large amount noisy clicks in the background. I turned my head to spot a large group of seniors with cell phones snapping pictures of me and the boy. It didn't make sense to me why they would photograph us, but as I stood up straight and felt a shiver go through my body I realized what was so funny to them.

I had just dived into a pool, in a white long sleeve shirt, and here I was soaking wet and….

I wrapped my arms around my chest quickly and heard some of the boys make cat calls in hopes I would let them see more. My brow furrowed and my mouth grew into a scowl as I tried to think of some power that would destroy their phones. But I never got even the chance to yell at them because at that moment the swimming coach walked into the door with a very sour look on his face.

"Only the swimming team is supposed to be in the pool!" He screamed at me and the coughing boy.

So, they had fixed it after all…..

"What the hell did you two think you were doing?!" The coach yelled louder as I shivered and the boy next to me finally stood up on shaky legs.

I opened my mouth to try and blurt out the story, but stopped as a large trench coat was placed over my shoulders. "Perhaps," the owner of the coat spoke up slowly, "This would be best to discuss after the students have had a chance to dry off." I had no idea in the world how he had found me, but for the first time in my life I was glad to see Remy looking down at me.

"Well," the coach stuttered a moment obviously wondering if he could get away with making us do laps or some such punishment right then and there, "Fine. Report to the office now you two! The nurse'll give you some towels or something."The boy beside me, still I figured scared stiff, ran off quickly to the exit and down the hall to the nurses. I on the other hand stood there for a moment shivering while Remy picked up my shoes in one hand and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders.

As we started the walk towards the exit I shivered harder and looked up at him with a grateful gaze, "Thanks.." I mumbled then fell silent.

Remy offered me a quick glance and nodded his head softly, "Your welcome Cherie." After he spoke his soft words, his eyes went back to staring at the group of seniors who were still giggling over the incident. If I hadn't know it was practically impossible, I would have sworn that his eyes were burning with so much anger they could practically be seen through his shades.

After escorting me to the nurse's office Remy had become a bit stubborn. He refused at first to leave my side, but after I asked him with enough force he agreed to go only to tell the other x-men that I wouldn't be going home with them today. The secretary of the school had already called up the professor so I assumed he would be taking me home himself. Once Remy had left I leaned back in my seat at the nurse's and wrapped the jacket closer around me. The Cajun had decided it was best for me to keep it until I could find a shirt that was less see through. I had been unable to argue with that statement since the nurse had no extra dry clothes for us to change into.

The freshman, whose name I had learned by eavesdropping was Tom, sat in a chair beside me with a towel around his shoulders and on his lap in case he needed to wipe his face off. Tom, I had learned from eavesdropping, was in fact a freshman who had just moved into town. The kid sat with a sulking look on his face and I figured he had a right to be upset. What kind of person is joyful after nearly drowning?

"You okay?" I asked him the question softly and noticed his head tilt downward as if his shoes were the most fascinating thing in the world. "Something wrong?"

"Just shut up!" He hissed the words out and I was taken by surprise.

I scowled at the little brat, "What?? You could be a little more grateful kid."

He looked up at me then with angry brown eyes, "For what?!" his words came out like a sinister hiss, "Thanks to you I am the laughing stock of the school!"

I stared at him in disbelief then felt my lip curl as I fought the urge to punch him into the wall, "You little brat!" I growled out the words in growing volume as I continued, "I did not jump into that damn pool to save your ungrateful ass just to be treated like some kind of-"

"Excuse me." The nurse interrupted my yelling with a stern face and pointed to the doorway of her office.

As my eyes followed the direction she pointed I discovered we were no longer alone in the room. Standing in the door way were two shocked brown eyed adults, a very angry looking vice principal, a disappointed looking professor Xavier, and an amused looking Logan.

I groaned softly and hung my head before mumbling the only word my brain kept shouting, "Crap…"


	5. The Annoyance of Revelations

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men**

**Thanks again to all of you who have been reading my work! I hope you are enjoying these chapters. And please feel free to put in any suggestions or comments you want on the review board.**

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It took two hours…

Two damn hours!

Two hours of my life I will never get back, to find a suitable arrangement with the vice principal and swim coach. In the end I was _awarded_ three weeks of detention for saving the little brat's life. The coach of course thought I should receive something stronger and serve as an 'example' for other students about what happens when they break the rules. But the professor halted that argument by continuously adding that I had technically broke the rule to save someone's life. I had to bite my tongue every time he said that to keep from blurting that I would drown the brat myself if given the chance.

The only joy of the whole meeting was getting to tell the doctored version of what had happened at the pool. I left out the part about the seniors since it would be more fun in my mind to torture them later and I had a feeling the brat wouldn't have benefited from them thinking he was a tattle tale. Though, he probably deserved a beating now. In the end my stupid ethics kept me from taking that tempting path. Even though I didn't get the joy of ratting out the idiotic boys, I did have fun by over playing the struggle to save the drowning boy.

Every word I said about pulling him up from the watery depths gained a large sob from his mother, who then proceeded to hug the boy and kiss his face while repeatedly chanting, "My poor Tommy Wommy!" The boy seemed to despise this even more then the fact that some girl saved him from death, which my vengeful side greatly enjoyed. Of course the professor and Logan knew enough about me to see the embellishment of my tale, so they were less than amused. At least the professor wasn't amused…

By the time we left the meeting with the vice principal I had decided it was best not to mention my power problems. I was already in trouble at school so why make myself the center of worry and negative attention at home? Besides, I knew that there was little, if any, self control left in my body by this point. Which meant it wouldn't take many over concerned mutants to push me off the edge. God, I wanted to beat something to smithereens!

The professor and Logan were quiet on the car ride back to the mansion, which I appreciated since it gave me time to try and figure out how I would deal with the mountain of questions that would surely await me at home. It was hard, if not impossible, to keep most secrets at the mansion. If one of the young telepaths wasn't reading someone's minds for 'practice' the other students were running around all to eagerly to tell what they had witnessed or heard around the mansion. And it was with this knowledge that I assumed it was safe to predict that, I had about five or six new rumors about me running around the place.

Logan had driven the car smoothly up the mansions driveway, before I even realized that we had arrived. The mansion looked more welcoming than ever before to me at that moment. It was the one place where I could not only use my powers but I could also find something to beat up pretty easily. The thought of a hard session in the danger room brightened my spirits enough that I actually flew out of the car before it was fully stopped.

"Where's the fire?" I heard Logan, who was just now turning off the car, call out to me.

I didn't give him an answer, since he really didn't care to know I figured. Instead I opened the door to the mansion and walked inside quietly in hopes that no one would spot me. Unfortunately, Ororo was waiting in the living room.

"Rogue?" She came up to me quickly and studied my appearance slowly.

I already knew I looked like a drowned rat. My hair was plastered in various directions with some locks wet and some dry and my makeup had already run so badly I resembled a raccoon with sleep issues. "I'm fine." I sighed softly and hugged the trench coat tighter around my body. Ororo raised a curious eyebrow at me and seemed to take my words with little faith. I guess it was the maternal side in her that made her doubt me. It had always worked as a lie detector before so why not now?

"If you don't mind," I looked into her worried eyes and forced myself to give her a calm expression, "I'm going to go change now." She put up no protest as I walked around her and started up the stairs to my room.

"Rogue?"

I stopped in mid step and turned to face Ororo, "Yes?"

"You know," she seemed to be thinking hard about how to phrase her words, "You know that you can talk to us if something is wrong don't you?"

I nodded my head and offered her a kind smile to help relieve her worries, "I know. But nothins' wrong. 'Cept bein' wet and cold, but that's about it." She smiled at me softly and nodded her head. I took that as an end to the conversation and flew up the rest of the stairs, just in case she had any more questions.

I reached my room not a moment too soon. The wet clothes took effort to get off, but once I was free from them it was easy to slip into a more comfortable outfit. A dark green long sleeve shirt, black pants, and sneakers formed my ensemble. I was glad that I at least had one outfit clean, because by that point I would have gone naked before wearing another outfit from Kitty. And it was that thought, that prompted me to drag the colorful outfits she had given me out of my closet and load them into a box that used to house a few of my favorite books. Once the items were packed tightly into the box, I hid it in my closet and made a mental note to drop it off at the local shelter. Someone ought to get some use out of the clothes she bought, but that someone was not going to be me.

Things actually started to pick up slightly once I was presentable again. My face and hair had been easy to clean and comb through. And I even got in a pretty good danger room session. Part of me thought it was weird that I pictured myself beating the idiots I had run into today as I destroyed each attacker, but then again part of me didn't care anymore. After spending over two hours in the danger room I finally pulled myself away to take a much needed shower. The warm water did wonders for me and by the time I left the shower I was actually starting to think that this day might not have been un-survivable.

That thought was ruined quickly.

For no longer than two minutes after I finished dressing I got what I like to call a 'mental page' from the professor. I had been dreading this in the back of my mind. And as I flew to his office I weighed the possibility that he would be mad and the possibility that he would be happy I saved that brat of a human. Wasn't that what the professor wanted us to do? Protect those who hated us or feared us. I never quite understood all of his reasoning's about trying to live with humans, but I was willing to at least try and give him the benefit of the doubt.

When I reached the office the door was already propped open to show Xavier sitting behind his desk. He smiled at me immediately and waved me into the room, "Please come in and take a seat Rogue. Would you mind shutting the door behind you?"

I followed his directions and shut the door quietly behind me, before walking over to one of the cushiony chairs in front of his large desk. His face seemed happy enough, but I wasn't sure how he really felt about the whole situation. As my imagination started to purpose wild ideas of what could happen I leaned back in the chair and tried to shut down everything in my mind.

"You've had quite a day haven't you Rogue?"

I shrugged and wondered if he was going to spend a long time beating around the bush. Couldn't he see that I was impatient enough? Why wouldn't he just spit it out already?!

Xavier must have noticed my impatient mood since he cleared his throat and started to talk straight with me, "Rogue, I am proud of what you did today." He rolled around his desk and came to a stop close to my chair, "From what you said to the young man in the nurse's office I know he was not your favorite person in the world, but you still dived in the water to save him."

"It was nothing." I shrugged and sat up in my chair anxious to get out of the office.

"But it was something." He protested my words as I knew he would, "You did something-"

"For an ungrateful brat of a human." I spat out the words before I could stop it and sighed, "I know you want us to help the humans Professor, so I did. Case closed."

The Professor sighed softly and laid his hands in his laps, "Rogue there are humans who fear us and don't understand what we are-"

"What we are? They don't care about that!" I felt a bit of anger that had been boiling inside me for a while now began to flair as I stood up from my chair, "Trust me I spend hours with them five times a week they don't care what we are! They only care that we are not the same as them! That's it. They don't go much deeper!"

The Professor looked at me solemnly before speaking again, "Rogue it may not seem like it, but we are making progress. It is slow, but there is progress."

A sigh escaped my lips as he spoke so calmly even after I had yelled at him, "Sure, were making _great_ strides…" I spoke the words with little if any feeling. "Is that all Professor?"

The Professor seemed to realize it was a lost cause to dwell on the subject with me because he shook his head softly and dismissed me, "No Rogue, you may go."

I didn't waste time walking as soon as I got out the door. Flying was always faster and it gave me the power to avoid whoever I did not want to be bothered by. As I flew into the kitchen I could see a large group of people surrounding every inch of counter space. Kurt was the quickest in this mad house of people. He moved expertly around until he found something he liked, and then he merely snatched it in practically record speed. The blue teen's antics kept up until Jean and Kitty started to use their powers against the speed eater. But, Kurt ended their amusing display by grabbing what looked like a Chinese takeout box and teleporting to the table in the large kitchen. Kurt smiled at me once he spotted me by the doorway of the large kitchen. I offered him a quick hello, but it was cut off by Kitty who apparently wanted whatever Kurt was clutching in his hands.

"Kurt you took like all of the rice!"

Kurt chuckled and teleported as Kitty began to walk over to him. Seconds later he was beside me with a large playful grin on his face, "Zu langsam!" He proclaimed these words, which no one in the kitchen understood, in a loud German accent. I rolled my eyes at the display knowing that Kitty could get what she wanted if she pretended the antics didn't bother her. "Go easy on her Kurt." I whispered this to him and hoped he would take my advice. I needed Kitty in a good mood to tell her about our science grade.

"No way!" Kurt chuckled and once again teleported out of sight. Kitty furrowed her brow and started to chase after the boy, until she noticed me standing in the room. Her expression became a light and happy one as she asked me the one question I had been dreading, "Rogue! So like how did our science project go? Wasn't I right about you being able to do it?"

I shrugged my shoulders somewhat, "Oh… I did _it_ all right."

Kitty smiled at me and seemed more like a proud parent then a student, "I told you that you would be fine! You need to like trust yourself more in science."

"Oh! That reminds me," one of the younger mutants in the kitchen spoke up then, "I meant to tell you how cool your science explosion was Rogue." The young boy had a large grin on his face, "They had to close the room to get rid of the smell so we had science class in the cafeteria and didn't have to even do anything!"

Crap….

"Explosion?!" Kitty blinked as she stared at me and the young mutant in turn, "There wasn't supposed to be an explosion!"

"It was awesome!" The boy smiled happily and seemed to think I was some kind of prank god, "The teacher's table was covered in this green slime and it smelled like rotten milk!"As the boy went on to describe the smell in more detail a great deal of the students left the kitchen with a green coloring on their cheeks. I couldn't blame them really since I felt nauseous at the mere memory of the smell.

"What happened?!" Kitty looking quite pale turned to face me with sad eyes.

I swallowed back the urge to tell her the truth about the incident, "The chemicals slipped out of my hand. I'm sorry Kitty."

The girl seemed to be frozen in shock as she took in the information I had been trying to work up to tell her. "And Mr. Brine?" She squeaked out.

"Well," I pulled at the collar of my shirt suddenly finding it harder to breathe, "He wants to kill me, but he'd probably let you do a make up assignment…"

Kitty sighed softly and rubbed her temples gently, "At least no one was hurt…" I admired the fact she tried so hard to find a positive outlook in this scenario. But her last bit of understanding snapped once the young boy in the kitchen piped up, "Unless you count the table!" He chuckled and I felt my face form a hard scowl. Wasn't it enough I had already put Kitty in shock? Did he have to rub it in??

"This isn't really any of your business." I growled out the words to the younger mutant, but stopped as my hands started to heat up as if they were on fire. Of all the times to have another damn power surge! I turned my back and started to walk out of the room. There had been enough damage caused by me today, I didn't need to make any more.

By the time I reached my room the outside world was coated in a dark shade of black. I walked out onto the balcony in hopes that I could watch the blanket of bright stars overhead and forget what had gone wrong today. After perching on the railing, I let my legs swing slowly back and forth while my eyes scanned the night sky for shooting stars.

"They are beautiful no?"

I was suddenly alerted to the fact that I was not alone on the balcony. My eyes looked into the darkness to find Remy sitting no more than three inches to my left, "The night sky always is." I mumbled the response and Remy scooted closer to me.

"Not as beautiful as you."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm in no mode for this Cajun."

"Well," the red eyed charmer gave me a crooked grin, "Remy figured that you got his jacket so he gets to say what he pleases."

"I appreciate the jacket. But not the lip bayou boy."

"Such a foul mood." Remy laughed softly then flicked something between his fingers, "And after Remy got you a present and everything."

"You did what?"

Remy smiled once I asked him about the item he kept fiddling with in his fingers, "Remy brought you something."

"What?"

He shook his head and with a grin said, "Remy's pride is too hurt to just give it now." I rolled my eyes at his words and the Cajun laughed, "He will give it to you if you do something first."

"Forget it. I don't want anything that bad."

"Fine." He shrugged his shoulders and turned away from me as if he had no interest in talking any longer.

I hated myself for it, but part of me did want to know what was in the Cajun's hands. My day couldn't possibly get worse, so I figured it was worth a shot. "Alright," I sighed, "What do you want?"

The Cajun grinned and leaned closer to me, "A promise."

"To do what?"

Remy placed a gloved finger on my lip much to my disliking, "Remy wants you to promise that you will dance with him."

"Now?" I mumbled under his finger.

He pulled his hand away and grinned, "No, not now."

"Then when?"

"Later Cherie." He grinned seeing how frustrated I was trying to outwit him, "For now Remy just wants you to promise to say yes if he should ask you to dance."

I sighed softly, "Fine. I promise to dance with you when you ask me to."

Remy gave me the crooked grin I loved and seemed pleased with my words, "Remy will hold you to this Cherie." After informing me of this unwritten contract the boy pulled back out the surprise and handed it to me.

"A fortune cookie?" I stared at the small treat wrapped in plastic.

"Remy never said it was a _grand_ surprise." The Cajun grinned at me finding this quite entertaining.

I let out a sigh and opened the plastic wrapper slowly. After having no dinner I was more than hungry enough to devour the cookie whole, but I was gentle with it and cracked the tan cookie with a small amount of strength. Instead of reading my fortune I put a small piece of the cookie in my mouth and started to chew it slowly.

"You really are terrible at this." Remy taunted me with a playful grin, "Everyone knows you have to read your fortune first."

I shrugged, "My cookie, my choice."

Remy chuckled and waited until I had eaten half the cookie to speak up again, "So what is your fortune?"

The little paper was still tucked in the other half of my cookie, so I wiggled it loose then skimmed over it. "It says, to those who find the truth good luck will follow." Remy seemed to find it more profound than I did since he grew a deep look of concentration on his face, so I tossed the paper to him, "You can have it."

The boy caught it in the air and shook his head, "Remy appreciates it Cherie, but he thinks you could use the luck more than him." I sighed and chewed the last piece of my cookie, before taking the slip of paper back from him.

After that things grew quiet between us. Remy and I watched the stars for a good hour before I finally mumbled out what I truly thought of the fortune, "I'm not sure if it's right Remy."

"What's not right?"

"The fortune cookie."

"Well it is just a cookie..."

"I know that," I looked at him with an obvious expression, "But the fortune mentioned something about truth and good luck, and well I ain't got much of either."

"You do." He protested and wrapped an arm around my shoulder which I couldn't bring myself to protest against, "You just don't see it." He nodded his head with certainty, but I had trouble believing him.

"I guess…"

"Things will get better." Remy smiled down at me and gave my shoulder a squeeze, "Remy promises."

"I'll hold you to that." I informed him and he just grinned widely.

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**The German that Kurt speaks is roughly translated to mean: To slow! **


	6. Surprises and Panic Attacks

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men**

**Thanks to all of you who take the time out of your day to read this. **

**And I forgot to mention that I was giving Remy a red Multistrada 1100 Ducati Motorcycle. With his knack of thievery I assume it would not be too hard for him to gain a bike of that quality.**

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I wanted to believe Remy,

I wanted to put my trust in his words that everything would become better,

But no matter how hard I tried, things kept falling apart around me one piece at a time...

The first few weeks after the pool incident seemed to consist of nothing but detention and tearing pictures of myself in a see through shirt off the walls and lockers of the school. My days became an evil pattern of restless nightmare filled nights, embarrassing names and photos, detention, and thanks to my effort to hide my power bursts there was also multiple acts of clumsiness.

I wasn't sure what amount of my sanity I would be able to hold onto, as my powers continued to control me and the students around me turned my life into a _living_ nightmare. Threats I tried to use against the students seemed to only last for a week or two at most. Who would believe you could beat them to a pulp if you couldn't let yourself do it? I knew that I could rip any of the students limb from limb, but I also knew that an act like that would put me and every other mutant in grave danger.

Of course, it wasn't like I really fit in with the other mutants anymore. The younger mutant students found my 'clumsiness' rather amusing, and the older residents of the mansion merely worried about the fact I had all but stopped sleeping. They knew why I couldn't sleep, hell the whole mansion knew since I had woken them up with my screams almost every night…

It wasn't until the third week of my torturous punishment that I realized the very fact I had been missing over the past weeks. I never fit in with humans and now I didn't even fit in with the mutants. I was neither normal nor a freak. No, I was a freak. I was just a different kind of freak in a group of freaks.

The weeks passed quicker once my three weeks of detention were over. My pattern changed after that to include myself flying away as quickly as I could when school was over for the day. I had no destination in particular at first, I merely flew were ever the wind took me. Being alone in the air was probably the one thing that kept my sanity somewhat intact. These flights were the only place that I didn't have to think about doing anything, or being a certain type of person. These flights were my freedom.

The weeks turned quickly into months and before I knew it was already December. I hadn't noticed the change in the months even though there were new piles of snow all over the ground and the outside of the mansion was decorated for every holiday in the winter season. No, I was so caught up in just surviving the day by day that I didn't notice what month it was until Remy reminded me in his own, unique, way.

"Cherie!," He called after me at the end of the day, just as I was walking away from the school so I could fly away unnoticed, "Wait up."

I paused in mid stride but did not turn to face him. Remy had been one of the few people to stick by my side through every nightmare and clumsy act. He had told me that it was just his way of taking care of me, but I didn't understand why he bothered. The other mutants had grown so tired of my screams that they didn't even come to check on my room if they heard me. Kitty had even started sleeping with ear plugs and a pillow over head.

But then there was Remy. The Cajun had become quite accustomed to hanging out on my balcony at night, to keep an eye on me he had explained. I had found it quite annoying at first, but after a few sleepless nights of lying in my bed alone, I discovered it was nice to be able to talk to someone. We never had deep conversations. It was merely talking about the weather or the stars. The stars were our favorite topic. Remy took time to read up on them and would tell me everything he found out as well as his opinion on it while we gazed at the night sky.

"Where you off to?" He asked me as he finally closed the distance between us.

"Nowhere important." I informed him and turned to face the red eyed mutant. Remy was still wearing his trademark trench coat, but due to the snowy weather he had changed the clothes that he wore under it. Today he had on a deep crimson sweater that would have brought out his eyes, if he had taken off his glasses. His pants were a plain black color, but for some reason clothes on Remy never seemed merely plain.

"Well then you won't mind coming with Remy." He grinned widely at me.

"Coming with you?" I blinked my tired eyes and adjusted my black scarf before continuing my question, "Where exactly is it that I'm supposed to go with you?"

"That is Remy's surprise."

"I don't know-"

Remy shook his head and placed a gloved finger on my lips, "You already said you had no plans. No fair taking that back now."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at his antics, "All right. I'll run your darn errand with ya."

Remy moved his hand and smiled, "Good." He held out his arm to me as if he expected me to loop mine around his, "We'll drop off your stuff then Remy will take you away."

I ignored his arm but started walking towards the direction he had originally come from, "I only want to know where you are takin' me Cajun."

"You will find out," Remy gave me a crooked smile and walked me towards his motorcycle, "Remy never keeps a beautiful lady waiting to long."

The boy drove us swiftly to the mansion and waited patiently as I dropped off my backpack and changed into a more durable outfit in case he was planning on making me go somewhere outside. It seemed odd to me that he waited so patiently for me. Remy had never struck me as the type to wait so quietly…

I found out something was occupying him once I came down the stairs. Kitty grinned at me from the bottom of the stairs and waved me to her, "Remy made me like swear I wouldn't tell what you were going to do, but I got to like give you some advice."

"Advice?"

"Yes," the brunette nodded her head in a quick manner then started to spew out random words, "Look really hard for the nice ones. And big ones. And-"

"Telling all of Remy's secrets petite?" The Cajun reappeared into the front living room of the mansion and looked at Kitty with a grin. Kitty shook her head quickly, "I didn't tell her!" she promised Remy. I looked between the two conniving mutants and shook my head, "I can honestly say I am more confused now then I was before." Kitty smiled brightly and poked Remy's chest, "See. I can like keep a secret."

Remy chuckled at her, "I see." His eyes left Kitty then and locked onto me with excitement flaring in them. It made me slightly nervous to see how excited the boy was. What was so great that he would plan it out so far as to make even Kitty promise to keep quiet?

"Ready?" Remy smiled at me and twirled his sun glasses in one hand while waiting for my answer.

"Sure. Why not…" I started towards the door and felt my nerves grow larger as Kitty giggled and wished us a safe drive.

Outside the mansion I realized what Remy was so busy preparing in my absence. Where his bike had once been parked there was now a large black Escalade. "Isn't," I blinked in surprise and walked up closer to the car, "Isn't this one of the professors cars?"

"It was." Remy swung a key ring on his finger with a grin.

"You stole the keys?!" I stared at him shocked, "What the hell were you thinking Remy LeBeau?!"

Remy chuckled at me and shook his head, "Calm down Cherie," He leaned against the driver's door casually, "It was a joke. Remy got it fair and square. Honest."

I rolled my eyes at him and grumbled under my breath as I trudged around to the other side of the car and took a seat in the passenger side. Remy was still chuckling under his breath as he climbed into the driver's seat and started up the engine. "Are you going to tell me where we are going in the professor's car now?" I stared at him with a mix of curious and annoyed emotions as he pulled out into the road and started driving down the roads as if he knew where he was going without having to even look at the road signs.

Remy shook his head and spared me a glance as we came up to a red light, "Not a chance." His wide grin was annoying so I turned to look out my window and tried to think of ways to force Remy to tell me where we were going. I wasn't really concerned with _where_ he was taking me. It was just the fact everyone was keeping it from me like it was some giant secret! That was what really ate at my nerves.

I must have dozed off sometime during my death planning for Remy, because the next thing I knew Remy was shaking my shoulder gently. "No..." I grumbled at him enjoying the most sleep I had been able to get in the past few months. My shoulder was left alone then, so I let my mind begin to drift back into whatever state of dreamless sleep it wanted. My body was actually quite comfortable until I was suddenly lifted up and felt a cold wind rush over me. I cracked an annoyed eye open to find Remy staring down at me. It didn't take long for my brain to piece together the fact I was in the smiling Cajun's arms.

"What the hell?!" I grumbled and forced myself out of his grasp. Remy chuckled some and shrugged as I tried to readjust my body to stand up. "Remy figured he would just take you _to_ the surprise if you were too tired to even get out of the car."

"I am not too tired to carry my own weight." I growled out the words and knew in the back of my mind it was careless of me to fall asleep like that near Remy. Who knows what kind of stupid idea the Cajun could have come up with? And I did not want to be a part of any idea that brought someone else's skin close to mine.

Remy smiled at me, "Too bad, Remy was enjoying carrying you."

"Yea, sure Cajun."

Remy gave me his usual crooked grin and took my gloved hand before I could call him any more names. "You ready Cherie?" He asked me after a good three minutes of leading me forward by my hand. I looked past him and could see the back of what looked like a large barn. Something about the snow covered ground and barn seemed quite familiar to me…

"Sure." I relented as he stepped in front of my line of sight and smiled widely. "You brought me to a barn Remy?" Remy didn't say a word to me. He merely bent down so our faces were closer, grabbed my gloved hands, and placed them over my eyes. "No peaking." Remy finally talked to me.

I felt my mind start to panic as Remy walked behind me and started to gently nudge me forward. Surprises had never really been my favorite thing in the world. And moving in the dark was something that had slightly unnerved me since I was a child. As we walked quietly forward I tried my hardest to not freak out, since I had no idea what power issue could happen if my mind lost its control. I focused on counting the paces we took to help calm my racing mind. After about sixty steps Remy let go of me and whispered into my ear, "You can open your eyes now."

As I pulled back my hands I was surprised to see that we were facing what I had thought was a barn from the back. What lay before me now was a old country home painted in a cool blue color. There was a sign on the wall beside the front porch door. I walked closer to the sign, being careful on the icy steps that led up to the house's wide porch. Upon closer inspection I could read the sign, "Winter Mountain tree farm…" I blinked softly and looked at the sign for a moment or two longer then the realization finally dawned on me.

I had been here before! This was the very tree farm that Irene had taken me to when I lived with her. But how had Remy known that? It wasn't like I shared anything with, well anyone, about those days. The truth was if I could avoid it I didn't think about my hazy past. There was too much drama and depression in it to relive it through memories. But, this place had been one of the good memories…

"I heard that you came here to pick out a tree as a child." Remy whispered the words in my ear softly.

"Yea.." I turned to face him then, "But how did you know that? I haven't come here since the place closed last year."

"Remy already told you that he knows lots of things Cherie." He grinned widely and placed a hand on my shoulder.

I couldn't believe that Remy had actually found out through whatever method, where I had gotten Christmas trees, but nevertheless he figured it out. "But they closed this place down. It's not like they are going to want to give us a tree Remy."

"Remy thought of that." He grinned widely and leaned past me to knock gently on the door. After a few minutes of waiting on the front porch a young man came to the door. He looked at Remy then me, before opening the screen door and ushering us inside the house.

Inside the country home there was the start of a fire in the living room fire place, and a large amount of comfortable looking chairs scattered around. The young man directed us to two of the chairs then rushed off to the kitchen. Unlike me, Remy seemed perfectly at ease inside this home. For the life of me I couldn't remember ever going into the owner's house. And for that matter the owner I remembered had been an old lady with bright white hair.

Remy must have read the confused expression on my face because he leaned over and touched my knee softly then whispered, "The original owner moved last year. This is her youngest adopted son. He agreed to meet us here."

I hated the fact that every time I thought I knew what was going on someone pulled the rug out from under me. Was it so hard for someone to just tell me exactly what was going on and who everyone was?? "I didn't know she had a son.." I mumbled out the words just as the young man walked into the living room with a tray that held three mugs.

"I hope you like hot Chocolate." The boy said and set the tray down on the small coffee table between the three of us. Remy took his glass appreciatively and I followed but with a bit of apprehension. "So you guys know uncle Xavier huh?"

As the words reached my ears I nearly choked on my drink. As I coughed a bit trying to clear my air passage both boys stared at me with raised eyebrows. "You," I coughed a bit more and set my drink down, "Your… the Professor's nephew?"

The boy gave me a small smile and shook his head softly, "Well, not by blood or anything, but I've known him since I was about five so I figure he is like an uncle to me."

"You've known him a while then."

The boy nodded, "Yes. Oh, I am almost forgot, I'm Jason by the way." He seemed to fight the urge to hold out his hand to me after introducing himself, which made me suspicious. Did this boy know about the mutant side of the Professor?

"I do." He spoke up suddenly and caused me to stare blankly at him.

"Wait, you do what?"

"I know about the mutants." He grinned at me and I started to piece together the puzzle in my mind. After letting me think for a moment the boy spoke up, "Yes that's right. I received help with my gift from the Professor a long time ago. I believe I was about your age when I left the mansion."

I stared at the young man in confusion once more. What did he mean when he was our age? He looked no older then Remy did. I guessed his age to be around seventeen or eighteen years old. "You don't…" I paused unsure how to word my question, "You don't look any older then us."

"Well thank you," the boy smiled at me kindly, "But I am older then you two. You see I just celebrated my fortieth birthday last month."

"You're forty?" I stared at the young man in surprise. His skin was smooth, and his body looked young and muscular. How could he possibly be forty??

"It's my powers." He explained suddenly, "At first everyone thought I could just read minds, but over the years it has become apparent that I don't grow as quickly physically as others. You see by the time I was mentally seventeen I was stuck in a body that appeared about twelve or eleven."

I watched the young man in deep curiosity. It seemed so strange that someone could have a mutant gift like aging physically slow while mentally they were right on time. "How," I blinked and looked at him softly since this seemed like a delicate subject to me, "How have you been able to live like that? Don't you get tired of people not treating you like you are a responsible adult?"

Jason shrugged and shook his head, "I try to think on the positive side. Everyone whose opinion I care about knows not to treat me like a kid, and the way I see it there are a million middle aged women who wish they had the ability to stay young." Remy chuckled at the last statement and leaned back in his chair, obviously enjoying this little show and tell Jason was putting on for me.

Jason spent a good hour telling us stories about a younger Professor Xavier. Apparently the good Professor hadn't always been as plain as he was now. I began to like Jason more and more as he shared stories about the mutants he and the professor had seen long before Remy or I were even born. The stories were so captivating for me that I barely noticed Remy stand up and tap me on the shoulder. "We better hurry up and get our tree Cherie." I looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to get lower in the sky.

It took a good twelve minutes to get out the door of Jason's house and start towards the tree selection area. The young man had made us promise we would tell Xavier to come visit him, before he left us alone in the front yard. "You know," I looked to Remy as he started to walk towards the trees, "Jason's an interesting guy."

Remy raised an eyebrow and slowed his pace so I could catch up, "Really?"

"Yea," I nodded my head then took up into the air to get a good look at all the possible trees in the area, "He seems to be pretty happy with the fact he will never look his real age." Remy didn't respond he just kept his eyes trained on me while I started to scout out the perfect tree. I knew that it was probably just my imagination, but I could have sworn I saw the smallest look of jealousy flare in his face every time I mentioned something about Jason. As mean as my self-conscious thought it was, I couldn't help but get a little joy out of the fact that I had made Remy jealous. It had to be a record breaking event to make the charming Cajun jealous right?

By the time Remy and I had loaded our tree of choice onto the top of the car, he had started to realize I was making him jealous on purpose. Once the Cajun understood my _torture Remy for revenge game_, he started helping out by suggesting I call Jason up to see if he wanted to go out for a movie or dinner. I stuck out my tongue at him them checked the ropes holding the tree to the top of the car. The tree we had chosen was a rather large one; well it had been large at first. I had been able to easily chop the thing down with just my hand, but my hand had also decided to burn the bottom of the tree. So now our tree's trunk was shorter, but I figured no one would notice it. Remy hadn't even thought it was suspicious when I _accidently _knocked off a good quarter of the tree's base to hide the charred pieces.

The ride back to the mansion was pretty quiet. The only noise in the car was the heater and the various radio stations I tried to find. After having little success with finding a station that held no static, I had given up and leaned back into my seat. My eyes stared out the front windshield as large snow flurries started to drift down towards the ground. It was peaceful in the car, and for once I found myself growing comfortable around Remy. But there was still a nagging question in the back of my mind, "Remy?" He didn't look at me but I could see he was listening by the way his head tilted. "I was wondering something."

"What is it?" Remy turned the car onto a familiar road and I knew we were close to the mansion now.

"Why do you spend so much time with me?"

"You don't like that?" He asked and looked at me curiously.

"No, I mean well kind of…" I looked at my lap for a moment then slowly looked back up at him, "I mean it just seems strange to me… All I do is keep you up at night and yet there you are night after night sitting on my balcony and doing all the other stuff for me…"

Remy pulled the car to the side of the road and turned in his seat to face me. He gave me a smile and leaned closer to me. He took my chin in his gloved hand and stared into my eyes, "Cherie," He tilted his head slightly and I could see an amused but caring twinkle in his red eyes, "Remy would do anything for you."

I stared at him blankly not quite able to grasp what he was telling me. "But why?"

Remy tilted his head then winked at me playfully, "Remy can't tell you all his secrets." The young man chuckled some then leaned over closer and placed a kiss on the top of my head. As soon as he had though, the boy let go of my chin and turned back to the car. He started up the engine and drove us back to the mansion in complete silence.

When we arrived at the mansion, I was surprised to see Logan waiting for us in the front yard. He was dressed in an outfit that only someone of his caliber could get away with on this snowy day. Remy raised an eyebrow at the waiting mutant and seemed to find it funny, "Looks like we have a welcoming committee."

Logan approached the car right as we pulled to a stop in front of the mansion. Remy and I climbed out of the car with ease, though Logan shot death glares at the Cajun. I floated to the roof of the car and in a matter of minutes I was able to get the large tree loose and on the ground. The giant thing was pretty light to me so I held its trunk with one arm.

"You're going to have to pretend its heavy stripes." Logan growled out and reached out for the tree as if I needed help with it.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "I could drag this in easily Logan. It's not that heavy."

"I know that," he grumbled, "But the human in there don't."

"Human?" Remy looked at Logan with curiosity.

"Yea. Jean's great-grandma or something. She's in the house."

As the news sunk in I relented my hold on the tree and gave it to Remy and Logan. The boys grunted a little under the weight, which seemed funny since it was light as a feather to me. "I'll get the door." I informed them and headed up to the front steps with the boys following slowly behind me. I had to fight my impatience the entire time they worked to get the dang thing into the house. "Got it," Logan grunted as he started to hurry the pace up. I watched Remy closely to make sure he was completely in the mansion before I shut the door behind us. The boys walked over to set the tree into the pre-placed holster. I stood by the door and watched as the two men argued their way through fixing the tree in just the right way. After a good minute or two of them arguing I was growing annoyed, "Just turn it around to hide that bare spot."

"What bare spot?" Logan scanned the tree then looked at me.

"I'll do it." I mumbled to him and walked around behind the tree to start turning it around.

I got so caught up with fixing the tree that I didn't notice the group of people who joined us in the living room. My ears picked up on them just as Remy was making his introduction to whoever was out there. I kept working on the tree until Remy peeked around and asked me to come say hello to Jean's Grandma. "Alright." I agreed and worked on getting out from behind the large tree.

As I stepped around the tree multiple things seemed to happen. First I spotted the older lady with gray hair sitting beside Jean, Kitty, and Scott on the couch. And second the old lady had the quickest panic attack I have ever seen. The woman grasped at her shirt and stared at me in complete shock while mumbling something out to me. It took a moment between Jean trying to calm the mumbling woman and me trying to listen hard to her words for things to make sense.

"Who am I?" I asked the woman who was now trying to convince Jean she was fine.

"Ye…yes…" the old woman spoke slowly and kept her eyes on me like I was the only person in the room.

"Um," I shifted my weight from leg to leg as she stared uncomfortably at me, "I'm Rogue."

"Rogue?" She stressed the word out as if she wasn't sure she had said it right.

"Yes, Rogue."

"I see." She let out a long breath and composed herself before speaking again, "Forgive me Rogue," She offered me a strongly kind smile, "I guess with my old eyes I just assumed you were someone I had known a long time ago."

I shook my head softly, "No problem."

The rest of the night seemed quite odd to me. I found Jean's great-grandma, who looked pretty young to be that old to me, staring at me from the corner of her eyes. It was unnerving to always be under 'supervision' from a lady you barely knew. But I had no real reason to be annoyed by her, since all she did was treat me and the rest of the x-men like her own grandchildren. And as much as I wanted to, I could never get up the nerve to ask her who I reminded her of.


	7. Shopping and Shimmering Jewels

**Disclaimer: I do not own x-men. **

**Thanks to all of you who have been reading my work! ^_^**

**And a special thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I love hearing from you guys. **

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The next day was a Saturday and according to Kitty's calendar it was time to hit the stores for Christmas goodies. Jean, Ororo, and Amara had all jumped at the thought of going out since they figured Kitty would be right about the good items going first. I wasn't so sure about this plan though. The idea of being in crowded stores so far into the holiday season scared the crap out of me. All it would take was one little tap with someone's skin and everything would explode. But Kitty was persistent as always so she would not give up the argument.

"Come on Rogue!" the valley girl followed me as I grabbed a pretzel from a bag Kurt held.

"Kitty why can't you go without me?"

"It's going to be like a big girls day out! You have to come Rogue!"

"She's afraid Jean's Oma vill jump her." Kurt added with a chuckle that Scott joined in on. Jean and I smacked the back of their heads in unison causing both boys to grumble and rub their sore heads.

Kitty tugged at my gloved hand and tried to whine and protest enough to make me crack. "What's so bad about just staying here?"

Kitty rolled her eyes and pointed a finger towards the mansion's couch where every teenage boy in the mansion was hanging out, "You really want to hang out with that?"

I stared at the boys who were laughing loudly and making a few crude jokes while the TV ran some sports commercial. As much as I hated the idea of shopping I knew that I couldn't stand being in the mansion with all these boys. "Alright, fine." I relented and frowned as Kitty cheered happily.

"Yea! You're going to love it Rogue!" She tugged on my arm and pulled me towards the door, "Come on, Ororo is waiting for us in the car."

By the time we reached the downtown shopping center, which Kitty swore we had to start at, I could see that a great deal of people had decided to follow Kitty's idea. There were **tons** of people walking around the various small shops along Bayville's historic district. "They act like the stores are gonna be open only one day…" I mumbled to the car full of women.

Jean laughed softly as she looked out at the crowds from her window, "Well it is the twelfth already. I guess they just think that they need to rush before everything's gone."

"I guess…" I leaned my forehead against the cool window then turned to look at Jean, "I figured you would be with your grandma today."

"Me too." Jean mused silently then shrugged, "But she said that she wanted to go see a friend this afternoon. So I'll just meet her for dinner later."

"I see." Though I felt incredibly foolish for thinking it, I was somewhat unnerved by the old lady.

Ororo parked alongside the street and turned to face the rest of us, "Well we better get started." She smiled kindly and turned to Kitty who already had out a spiral that was covered in scribbles. "Your right Ororo." She looked at us like a drill sergeant and started babbling off which stores had the sales and which stores were rip-offs. Amara, Jean, and I just looked at each other fearing that Kitty would turn into a shopping dictator. "This is gonna be a long day…" I mumbled to Amara and Jean who kept staring in wonder at Kitty.

Three hours later we had conquered a great deal of the shopping center. Things had gone better than I had expected, and if I knew Kitty wouldn't have hugged me, I would have even said it was almost fun. We had found gifts for almost everyone in the mansion. Kitty had gotten Kurt a selection of CD's that she swore he would love, Jean picked up a new shirt Scott had wanted, and Amara and I had tried to help Ororo pick out the right kind of skate gear for Evan.

"I vote we have lunch." Amara piped up as we left the music store for the second time. Jean and Kitty nodded excitedly glad to be part of a plan that included food after all of our shopping _exercise_. "There is a little café, like at the end of the street." Kitty pointed down the street and watched as Amara and Jean smiled brightly. "Sounds good to me." Ororo added.

I watched them with a bit of interest, and then turned to stare across the street as I heard someone yell what sounded like my name. My eyes spotted a man in his forties talking animatedly to another man as they walked down the street. I could see him pointing to a newspaper and talking about some rogue thief so I tuned him out. It was just one of the consciences of having a character description for a name. My body was about to turn back to the conversation at hand when I spotted something strange in the jewelry store. A woman who looked an awful lot like Jean's grandmother was having a discussion with a guy who looked like he worked there.

"Rogue?"

I turned around to face the curious crowd watching me, "Yea?"

"Didn't you hear us? We decided to go to the little café down the street." Kitty smiled at me and started walking down the sidewalk. "Come on Rogue."

I took a step after her, but then paused. Something kept drawing me back towards the jewelry store. My gut seemed to lurch as I thought about walking along without investigating the place. "You know what," I looked at the girls who were still waiting for me, "I wanted to grab something I saw earlier. You guys get the table and I'll meet ya." They mumbled out some sort of acceptance to my demands, but I wasn't listening by that point. My mind was focused solely on figuring out once and for all what was up with the old lady. I hid out in the music store we had just come out of until I was sure the others were too far away to see me head across the street. The one good thing about crowds was how easily I could hide in them.

By the time I reached the jewelry store I could see Jean's grandmother becoming a bit irritated with the guy behind the counter. I opened the door and stepped inside the building slowly, so I would not startle the lady again. The angry employee looked at me with a curious face and seemed to find me anything but a normal customer.

"Can I help you?" The man sneered out his words and stressed each syllable harshly.

I refrained myself from snapping at his rude tone, "No thanks. I just came to see someone."

Jean's grandma turned around and stared into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity. The lady had perfected the art of creepiness if you asked me. "I remember you. Your one of Jean's little friends."

"Yea," I looked at her and tried to read the expression on her face, "I wanted to ask you something if you wouldn't min-"

"Oh my!" The lady interrupted me suddenly and looked at the clock on the wall, "I must be going. I have to meet Jean soon."

"She said you were having dinner later tonight. Not lunch." I was starting to get frustrated. Why did this lad keep treating me like I had the plague?!

"Oh, yes." She shook her head slowly, "I'm so forgetful sometimes."

I looked at her with suspicion then brought my eyes up to the dealer who seemed to be waiting impatiently behind his counter. "Where you gonna buy something for Jean?" I asked her curiously.

"Yes!" The woman jumped on the words so quickly I figured she had just realized the perfect alibi. "I was looking for something for Jean. But I think I'll go look at another store."

"You sure?"

The old lady nodded her head and shuttled out the door faster than I would have guessed she could have moved. It annoyed me to no end that she kept this attitude around me, but I guess she had a right to be a jerk if she wanted. I shouldn't have even cared. It's not like she was my grandma or something. My attitude was turning sour already so I figured it would be a good idea to leave the shop and head back to my friends.

"Do you need anything else?" The man sneered at me from behind his counter once more.

"No I-" I turned slowly to look him in the eyes, but I fell silent as my eyes spotted a piece of jewelry on the counter. "What's that?" I walked closer and stared at the necklace set gracefully on the clear counter. The jewel on the end of the necklace resembled a heart with some kind of crest like symbol in the center. I picked up the necklace carefully and stared at the front of it for a good while. There was a jewel on the front in the center of the crest that looked like a real emerald. The clerk cleared his throat loudly while I watched the heart spin with each move of the gold chain, "How much is it?" I had been saving up some money for a rainy day, and as I stared at the necklace I couldn't help but want to spend every penny I had on it. In truth I was never one for jewelry, but this necklace was practically calling me…

"That?" The clerk stared at the item for a moment, and then looked out the door as if he was expecting someone to come rushing in. "I'll give it to you for one hundred fifty dollars."

Even I knew that the necklace in my hand was worth a great deal more than that, but if he was going to let me take it for that kind of a steal I wouldn't argue. "Alright." I reached into my pocket and handed him some crinkled bills. The man counted them out while I worked to clasp the necklace around my neck. He handed me a mirror then so I could see how the necklace looked on me. The gold chain was long, causing the heart jewel to rest just above my bust line. It was strange to see the necklace around my pale neck, but for some reason my mind couldn't imagine it belonging to anyone else in the world. This necklace was mine… And I would make sure it stayed with me.

Before leaving the jewelry store I picked up a cheaper pink bracelet for Kitty. If I had come back from the store with just a new necklace for myself they would have grilled me unmercifully. At least this way I could say I had picked up a gift for one of them, and thus gain a pretty good excuse.

Once I arrived at the café I could tell the girls had started to grow worried about me. It wasn't more than a minute after I stepped into the door that Kitty waved me over with a large smile, "Rogue! Over here!"

I hurried to their table since Kitty was not going to stop yelling until I was seated with them. "Shh," I tried to quiet her down as I sat beside Amara.

Kitty smiled at me then looked down at my neck in wonder, "That's so pretty!" she squealed and leaned over the table to stare at my necklace. Jean and Ororo stared at the jewel as well, but they stayed silent, unlike the other two girls. Amara reached out and touched the gold heart softly, "I've never seen a jewel shine like that…" She whispered to our table.

"Thanks…" I mumbled to them finding all the attention a bit unnerving. The girls all seemed to agree with Amara since they murmured and pointed at the jewel with curious expressions. I looked down at the necklace myself, and though it seemed childish, I couldn't help but think the emerald in the center was glowing a good bit brighter than it had in the store.

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**The small bit of German Kurt used means _Granny_ or _Grandma_. **


	8. Can't Spell Studying Without Dying

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. **

**Thank you to all of my readers! **

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The rest of the weekend went by quickly and brought the start of winter exams week. The mansion was swarming with mutants lounging around the various rooms, trying franticly to cram their textbooks information into their minds. These were the same books that most of them had all but ignored through most of the year. Then again I was in no position to chastise them, since I had my own cram sessions to work on. And that was the very reason Kitty and Remy were quizzing me so hard on science.

"Okay Rogue, which element on the periodic table has the abbreviation Fe?"

Remy sat beside me on my bed while Kitty sat in a wheeled desk chair facing us. The score on this painful review was unfortunately Remy 7 and Rogue 0. Who knew the stinking Cajun knew anything about science? "Um…" I let out a slow breath and felt my eyes close, at first to concentrate but also to block out the light of the room. My body started to sag forward as I felt the sweet temptation of sleep closing in on me.

"Cherie?"

Remy nudged my shoulder just enough to cause me to shot back to the present and embarrassingly declare, "Calcium!"

Kitty shook her head softly to confirm that I was wrong yet again. Remy wrapped his arm around my shoulders softly and tried to get me to rest my head on his shoulder, "You're just tired." He said softly as I let him keep his arm on me, but did not lay my head down. I was too tired to fight off his arm, but I did have a little pride left in me. I had gotten even less sleep in the past few nights since the nightmares had grown more gruesome. The strange thing about the dreams was they never made any more sense to my tired brain. The only change in the nightmare was how long I was stuck in the room of corpses. By this point I had memorized every inch of the blood covered room.

"Remy's right Rogue. You're just tired after all the like finals you have taken already. But, this is your last one and you were doing better-"

"Stop with the damn pep talks!" I snapped suddenly and rubbed my temples while Kitty stared at me with terrified eyes. "I'm sorry," I mumbled to her and stood up from my bed slowly and walked out to the balcony connected to our room, "I just need some air…"

Neither Kitty nor Remy offered an opposition to me leaving. I knew that I was becoming a thorn in their side. Hell, I was a thorn in my own side! Kitty was too nice to mention it, but I could see the look of anger in her eyes as she walked to Jeans room so she could actually get some sleep for once. And Remy was bound to snap at some point. It wasn't like I had been kind to him at all since this whole drama started. The boy just kept coming though no matter how many times I snapped at him…

Snow flurries started to fall as I flew further away from the mansion's grounds. It was kind of nice to fly through the small wooded area behind the mansion. I was actually starting to enjoy myself until something caught my eye on the forest floor. As I flew closer to the ground I could see what looked like a dog trapped under a broken tree trunk. I looked at the trunk covered in snow and figured it must have collapsed under the weight of the snow. The dog whimpered and growled as I approached him.

"It's okay boy." I spoke softly and walked slowly towards the trunk. The animal growled, but I ignored the noise as my arms went to work lifting up the heavy trunk. The dog shot out once he was loose enough to get away from the branch. He seemed to be limping badly so I tried to walk up to him, in hopes he would let me take him to a vet or even to the mansion's sick bay to be looked at. The dog growled slightly then took off at a surprising run into the woods. I felt a strange twisting in my stomach, which I chalked up to the thought of the dog getting hurt worse in the wild.

So after taking a deep breath I took into the air and tried to figure out where the animal had run off to. "Here boy…" I called out to the dog as my search took me into thicker and thicker parts of the small wooded area. "Come on out!" I sighed and looked around the forest area, "Yer just gonna get hurt worse out in the wild!" I felt like a bit of an idiot screaming for this dog and following him blindly into the thick woods, but the poor animal was probably more terrified then I could imagine.

The snowflakes started to fall quicker as I searched farther for the dog. I was starting to grow frustrated since the little amount of light that had been flickering through the trees was beginning to fade into the darkness, "I know you don't want to be out here either!" I shouted out for the dog feeling a bit strange since he would not understand my reasoning's. My feet touched the ground quietly and I waited for a good three minutes for the dog to appear or at least bark. But, after a few minutes of silence I figured this was a dog who obviously didn't want to be found. "Alright!" I shouted into the forest as a shiver racked my body, "I give! You win!" As the words left my mouth I couldn't help but feel like even more of an idiot. How stupid could I get-

I never saw the hit coming.

The next thing I knew I was smashing through two of the large trees surrounding me. My body hit the snow covered ground hard and actually stung in a sort of aftershock like state. Who the hell could hit **me** hard enough for it too actually hurt?!

"Don't tell me you're a one hit wonder"

I blinked and stood up to face a shocking discovery in front of me. My brain couldn't comprehend the shock at first, but slowly the truth became unavoidable. Before me stood another… me.

As I stared in shock, at my clone of sorts, the clone gave me a twisted smile and started to charge at me. Out of instinct my body began to fly upwards, but it was stopped by a sudden crushing hold on my ankle. I let out a groan of pain only seconds before a hard punch jammed into my gut and sent me flying. I crashed into a few more trees then hit the ground with such speed and power it left a large rut in the snow and dirt. It had been a long time since I had felt the pain of a broken bone, but I was still pretty sure that my pain filled left arms was broken, as well as a few ribs. Still, I staggered to my feet and looked for my clone. What greeted my tired eyes was even more shocking. There had been one before, but now I was face to face with two clones. My brain tried to comprehend the sight before me as the two clones snickered at me.

"Wow," The one on the right said with a roll of her eyes, "I thought you would be tougher then that!"

The other clone laughed and nodded her head, "Maybe we got the wrong person. There is no way this could really be her."

I looked at them with a furrowed brow. So it was a fight they wanted? Well, I could give them a good ass whipping that was for sure. Quickly I took up into the sky and tried to hide amongst the tree leaves. It surprised me that the clones did not follow me up into the branches. They obviously had super strength so why not flying as well?

"If you come out now we will only beat you to an inch of death." The clone on the right called out the threat with a sickening smile on her face. I furrowed my brow and waited for just the right chance to attack. The chance came quickly as the clone on the left turned her head to the side just long enough to laugh about the other clone's threats.

With no hesitation I shot from my hiding place among the dark leaves and pounced on the clone. As I forced the two of us through the trees nearby, I could hear the sound of some of her bones snapping under my power. The clone let out an ear piercing scream as I started to fly up higher into the sky, intent on letting her fall towards her doom. The plan was perfect until my ankle received another bone crushing hold. I let out my own scream and dropped the battered clone from my hands as the holder once again tossed me like a rag doll across the forest.

As I crashed hard into the trees and eventually ground I could tell she had gone easy on me with the first few throws. Apparently she had a pretty nasty throwing arm. From my position on the ground I could see the unharmed clone looking over the other one, whose right arm and left leg were bent into unnatural positions. My gut knew that the only safe thing to do would be to take up a fighting stance, but as I lay there cut and broken I couldn't find the strength.

"You little bitch." The unharmed clone started walking towards me with an angry stare, "They wanted you alive… but now it seems that you would prefer to be dead."

I stared up at her with a shocked looking face. Who the hell where they? And why would they want me? The clone's eyes looked down towards the ground and seemed to focus on the necklace still around my neck. A few moments of silence passed before a cruel smile appeared over her face, "So you really did make it glow…" A low chuckle escaped her before she bent down closer to my body. I furrowed my brow and tried with all my might to force some kind of attack out of my body, but none of my limbs would move. The angry looking clone reached down and placed her hand softly on the gold heart…

I had no idea what happened next.

All I knew was the clone let out a loud scream and jumped away from me as a blinding light filled the forest around me. The frantic yells of the clones filled my ears as I felt my body start to ripple with what I guessed was multiple power waves. It felt as if I had an unlimited source of power but absolutely no control.

My eyes went blind to the world around me and soon my ears followed by closing off any sound of the forest or the clones. The only thing I felt was a rush of adrenaline and power I didn't recognize…

But, as soon as my exhausted mind and body relinquished control I felt the power boosts leave my system in an extremely rapid pace….

The rest of the world seemed unimportant, as I fell into a silent blackness that seemed to stretch on to no end around me.


	9. Green Eyed Kids and Secrets

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation. **

**Thanks to all my readers! I especially love those of you who take the time to review.**

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_The next thing I was aware of was a soft humming noise. The tone was light and slightly high pitched like a child's voice. My eyes opened slowly to find myself in what looked like a child's room. Everywhere I looked around the large room there were bright posters and pictures done in crayon or marker hanging on the walls. The bed was pushed against one of the tall walls and was coated in a plush purple comforter that was weighted down by a large grouping of stuffed animals. For some reason the room seemed almost familiar to me. I couldn't place the exact location, but I had a strange feeling I had been here before…_

"_Your awake!" A child's voice suddenly came to my ears. _

_I looked over to the one door in the room and saw a little girl standing in front of it. She looked no older than six, or maybe five even. The short child stared at me with large green eyes behind her long brown waves of hair. From the looks of things, she had been changing into some kind of princess dress up thing inside her closet. I assumed she had been in the closet earlier, since I didn't notice her before now. And she would be pretty hard to miss in that bright green dress and adult sized heels._

_The child started to walk closer to me, "Where am I?" My voice sounded a bit off to me, but I didn't think too hard on it. There more pressing questions at hand. As I looked down at my body I found my clothes and body to be completely healed. It was as if I had never been in a fight at all! Had I been healed or something? _

"_That's not important." The child answered my question with a disappointing answer. _

"_Well then, who are you?" I asked her growing more desperate for answers._

_The child shook her head once more, "That isn't important either."_

_My body slowly sat up straight in the bean bag chair, I hadn't even noticed I had been sitting on. "Then what is important?" I watched the little girl walk away from me and over to her bed. She tossed off her shoes, climbed onto the large mattress, and started to jump up and down. _

"_What's," she jumped, "important," jump, "is who," two more jumps, "you are."_

_I stood up slowly and stretched my body out, "Look kid." The little girl stopped jumping and stared at me quietly, "Do me a favor kay?"_

"_What?" _

"_Tell me where I am."_

"_No." She answered bluntly then started to jump again._

_I groaned and rubbed my temples, "Why the hell won't you tell me?"_

_The girl stopped jumping once more and stared stubbornly into my eyes, "I already told you. It's not important." We stood still for a while, until she started to mimic my movements. It was small things at first. She would sigh when I did, furrow her brow when I did, and eventually she placed her fists on her lips like mine._

"_Look!" I growled out at her._

"_Look!" She mimicked me further._

"_I don't have time for this!"_

"_I don't have time for this!"_

"_Stop that!" _

"_Stop that!" _

_I let out a frustrated groan and collapsed into a sitting position on the floor with my back against the frame of her large bed. The brat followed my lead and tried to utter a groan like mine before she jumped off her bed and sat beside me. After a few minutes of silence she smiled at me, "I like you."_

"_Great…" I mumbled sarcastically_

"_And now you can stay with me."_

"_What?" I shook my head quickly, "There is no way I'm staying here." My eyes started to scan the room looking for an escape of some sort. But slowly the horrible truth began to dawn on me; this room had only one door, and that was a closet door. There was no way out! What the hell kind of room had just a closet door?!_

"_What the hell kinda place is this!?" The girl opened her mouth to answer my rant, but I cut her off, "Don't ya dare say it's not important." _

"_But it isn't!" The girl protested. _

"_Look," I rubbed my temples as a headache started to form, "I'll answer your questions if you answer mine. Ok?" _

"_Ok!" The child brightened up instantly and started to think of a question. After two minutes or so she asked, "Do you know who you are?" _

"_Of course." I rolled my eyes, "I'm Rogue."_

"_Wrong." She declared loudly, "My turn again."_

"_That ain't wrong!" I growled out to the brat._

"_Yes it is!" _

"_I told you who I am, now you have to answer my question." My words were strict, btu the little girl didn't care. _

"_No!" She yelled and then stuck her tongue out at me, before scampering off the floor and trying to run across the room. I reached out in an attempt to grab hold of her arm, but when my hand reached what should have been her shoulder, it went right through her. It was as if I had tried to grab air…_

_The child grew silent and stared at me while I tried to comprehend what had happened. My courage finally grew enough that I was able to ask her once again, "Where am I?"_

"_You're not going to like it." She bit her lip and watched me closely._

"_Where?" _

"_In your mind…"_

_There was a dead silence in the room then. How could I be inside my own mind? Was I dead or something? Was this the afterlife? Was the afterlife really being stuck with an annoying six year old for the rest of eternity? Slowly my brain started to function again and I was able to form sentences again, "Why am I here?"_

"_I don't know." The little girl shrugged, "You never came to see me before."_

"_You can't really blame me for that." I groaned and leaned my head back to stare at the ceiling, "It's not like I knew you were here."_

_The girl sat beside me and nodded her head slowly, "I don't think I've been here that long anyways. At least, not as long as the others."_

"_Others?"_

"_Yea." She shivered and scooted a fraction of an inch closer to me, "I hear them a lot. They are really loud and always moaning and fighting. There scary." _

"_Your telling me." I looked down at the young girl then, "Do you have a name or something? I don't remember ever, um… absorbing ya."_

"_Well," the girl smiled, "I guess you can call me… um… Molly."_

"_Molly?"_

"_I like the name Molly."_

"_Ok." I shrugged and looked around Molly's room, "So, Molly."_

_She pulled a tiger that was barely hanging on the edge of her bed into her arms, "Yea?"_

"_Why did you think I was wrong about my name?"_

"_Cause you are." She hugged her tiger and listened to the toy's sound box to emit a growl._

"_That is my name."_

"_I didn't ask you that though."_

""_Yes you did Molly." I was starting to grow frustrated, "You said who are you. And I said I'm Rogue. That is who I am."_

"_No, that's your name."_

"_It's also who I am." _

"_No," The little girl stood up then and walked over to the child sized table across the room. She picked up a few pieces of paper and walked back over to me. "My mommy used to say that you can call yourself whatever you want, but you'll always be who you are." _

"_Ok.." I looked at her with confusion._

"_And you don't know who you are. You just got a name but not a who."_

_Molly held out her pictures to me with a nervous hand. I took the pieces of construction paper and looked through them with curious eyes. The first few images were of a happy looking family with three daughters and a son. They weren't drawn very lifelike, but I could tell spot some interesting features in the people. They all had green eyes and brown hair, except for the mother whose eyes were a pale blue color. "These are nice…" I complemented Molly on her first two images then stared at the third picture. _

_The third picture took on a more gruesome look. The family was crying and some blue stick figure was chasing them. I pulled out the next drawing and found myself staring at what looked like a poorly drawn version of my nightmare. The page was coated in red crayon strokes to symbolize the pools of blood. The only thing different about this picture compared to my dream, was a small person drawn hiding in the corner with tears in her eyes. I stared at the crying girl hidden in the picture and noticed that she had on a gold necklace. It was the same heart shaped necklace I had… The one I felt so comfortable with… Could it be…_

_The peacefulness of the room started to shake apart abruptly then. It felt as if someone was shaking the entire room with all their might. Molly screamed loudly and I joined her as I felt myself jostled into the air along with the toys in the room. "Molly?!" I tried to look for her as I was thrown in the shaking room. But as hard as I looked Molly had apparently vanished. "Molly?! Where are you?!"I screamed once more as my body felt like it was suddenly being ripped from the room and into a deep darkness. _

I sat up with a start as my mind finally became conscious once more. I looked around the room expecting to see Molly unconscious or worse, but I was only greeted with the eyes of some very worried x-men. My chest heaved and I tried to get a hold of what was going on around me. Was this another mind thing? Was this going to disappear too??

"Rogue," Professor X's voice came to me slowly as he wheeled his chair near me, "Your all right now. You are in the medical wing of the mansion."

"I…" My green eyes stared at all the faces around me and then back down to my body, which was once again healed, "I'm healed…" Words seemed to escape my throat in small bits as if I couldn't even make a full sentence.

"Logan volunteered to share some of his healing ability." Professor X smiled at me and then looked to Logan who was perched on the edge of the bed next to mine.

"Th… thanks." I mumbled to him and he gave me a curt nod.

"You were pretty banged up Stripes."

"It was like so scary Rogue." Kitty piped up then and sat on the edge of my bed with a look of concern, "We were so worried when you never came back and then Logan and Remy found you in the woods."

The woods! My brain started to click into motion then and I turned to face Logan, "Did you see them Logan??" I tried to get up from the bed, but I was gently pushed back down by a very concerned looking Cajun.

"See who Stripes?" Logan grumbled out in confusion.

"Me… well the other me's. There were two of 'em. And one was badly injured and couldn't have gotten away from you. He bled on the ground even. You had to have smelled it wasn't mine right??"

Logan looked at me with worry and shook his head, "Rogue you were the **only** thing out there. The Cajun searched the whole area as did I and there was nothing but **your** scent everywhere."

I looked at Remy desperate for some kind of defense but the boy just gave me a worried look, "He's right Cherie. It was only you."

"But you did leave quite a scene man." Evan piped up that time and watched me with a curious face, "It was like you burned trees and froze stuff and clawed stuff and it looked like you even laser beamed some stuff."

The rest of the mansion's residents looked at me with curiosity then. I knew what they all wanted to know, and I also knew I didn't want to tell them. I wasn't sure what they would believe from me now. "I," my mind tried to come up with an excuse but it was fruitless, "I had a power burst."

For the next three hours I received lectures, disappointment speeches, and of course a long questionnaire about what exactly has been happening and for how long. The Professor had been a bit ticked that I hid something that could have been dangerous from him, but after I let him check through my mind to see if the personalities in me were acting up, even he relented and announced that I seemed fine. It had been hard not to smile and snap out a sarcastic remark when he said I was fine. That would be like saying a tornado was just a little wind in my book.

It took an extra hour to convince the adults that I would be fine going to school tomorrow. I managed to get them to agree after pointing out that it was not only the last day of finals, but that I was also already cured thanks to Logan. There really was no point in staying cooped up tomorrow when I wasn't sick or injured.

It was around one in the morning when the adults and Remy left me alone in the medical ward to get some sleep. They had Storm out in the front section of the clinic like building to take care of any night issues that could arise or something like that. I was too busy thinking about Molly and our frustrating conversation to care what everyone else did. What had her drawings meant? Were they something that she had lived through? Maybe I was seeing her memories in my dreams. It wouldn't be the first my dreams turned out to be other people's past emotional events. My head had no luck I guess in making its own dreams, so it probably enjoyed stealing memories from other people. I let out a soft sigh and looked down to the necklace that was still around my neck. How could one little trinket cause so much trouble? "It's just a heart pendant on a chain…" I mumbled and slowly touched the necklace with my ungloved hand.

As soon as I touched the jewel the necklace grew a strange glow around it. I stared in wonder at the necklace that no looked like some kind of locket. With a nervous hand I opened the locket and found the treasures it held inside. There was a picture of a little girl and her parents on the right side of the necklace. The child and father both had bright green eyes, while the mother had pale blue ones. It was just like Molly's drawings… I looked hard at the little girl and bit my lip, "That's Molly and her parents…"

The shock washed over me in slow continuous waves, that grew when I looked to the other side of the locket. There was an inscription on the right side that I read aloud in a soft whisper, "Wherever you may go, whatever you may call yourself, you will always be our baby…" The inscription was followed by what I thought at first was a date, but upon closer inspection I could tell it was some kind of location. It looked a great deal like what you might find on a map to pinpoint some exact spot.

I'm not sure when my mind officially decided to take the drastic course of action. But either way, as I stared at the necklace in my hands I knew that there was something I had to do. For some reason, Molly's problems were mixing with my own problems and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let this matter go unsolved. Somehow I would have to find a way to reach whatever location was on the locket. And though I had no idea how, I would have to figure out once and for all what was going on.


	10. The Guilt of Leaving

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. I do own all minor characters I create within the story.**

**Thank you to my dedicated and new readers! I appreciate you reading my work. ^ _ ^ **

**This chapter is short, but they are going to get long again soon.**

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After three hours of planning and an hour and half of sleep I was ready to put my plan into action. It was kind of strange how easy it really would be. As I finished getting ready for the morning in the bathroom, I went over the steps in my head one more time just in case.

Pack some supplies in my back pack and try to act as normal as possible in front of the others.

Speed through my test and get out of the classroom before Kitty.

_Borrow_ an atlas from the small school library.

Then just make my way out the back of the school and I was set to take off on this adventure of sorts.

The strange thing about my plan was the pangs of guilt it gave my abdomen. Maybe the problem was just in my head. It's not like I was leaving them forever! This was just a kind of day trip. And they would all be better off not knowing what I was doing. I was doing them a favor by disappearing like this. Then why did I feel so nauseous?

Whether it was the growing guilt or pure insanity, I wasn't sure. But either way I found myself trapped into driving to school with Remy. The announcement had been a shock since the Cajun had apparently decided I needed a calmer car ride after yesterday. The insanity part of the whole process was even though I had a way out of the deal I agreed to go with Remy. Could I actually have felt guilty towards Remy? It's not like me leaving for this trip would be life shattering to him. I was just one of the girls he liked to tease, and that was it.

The ride was slow due to the snow falling all around our vehicle. But Remy's eyes kept glancing at me when he thought I wasn't paying attention. After putting up with these glances for a few minutes I finally looked back at him, "Ya know if ya take a picture it'll last longah." Remy stared out the front windshield and stayed quiet for a moment.

"So what are you hiding?" He finally asked me without looking at my face.

I felt the shock build up in my mind, but I kept my face neutral. There had been too much work put into the damn plan to have it crushed now, "Don't know what ya mean." Remy wasn't buying it and actually seemed a little upset. What a strange thing to do. It wasn't Remy's type to get upset like this. Maybe if I was claiming that I had kidnapped his brother or that I had done some horrible crime he would be upset, but this was just silly. Why would he care anyway?

"Don't give me that crap." He spoke slowly and continued to act out of character.

"What?"

"You know what I mean."

"No ah don't. What's wrong?"

"Your accent."

I stared at him in confusion and then rolled my eyes, "Oh please." What the heck was wrong with this Cajun? Of course I had an accent! He knew that already. Maybe Remy had finally lost his marbles. Probably lost it in one of those danger room sessions with Logan.

"Rogue," Remy's calm yet serious tone pulled my attention again to his face, "I'm not an idiot. I meant that your accent is thicker."

"So?"

"So that usually means something is stressing you out. And I want to know what it is."

The words took me aback for a few moments. So Remy thought something was wrong with me because my accent was thicker? Did it really sound different today? And for that matter wouldn't that mean Remy had been listening awfully close to what I say if he knew that about me? Maybe the Cajun did care a little more than I thought. "Remy I'm just thinking about my test." The words came out slow and forced so they would not have the tale tell sign of a southern accent.

"You're lying."

"How the hell would you know that?"

"Your eyes."

"What? Are they southern too?"

Remy chuckled and finally took away some of the pressure of the conversation, "No, just beautiful."

The Bayou boy pulled the car up into the school parking lot and picked a spot that was at the very end of the large parking lot. The boy turned the car's engine off then unbuckled his seat belt. I followed his seat belt maneuver and reached for the handle of my door so I could get out and head to my exam.

"Cherie?"

I turned around to see what Remy wanted and was taken by complete surprise when the Cajun placed a thin piece of fabric over my lips and proceeded to place his own lips on mine. Things stood still around me from that moment on. This was wrong. This was horribly, horribly wrong. But I couldn't stop it. All my brain was good at right now was turning into a non-thinking mush in my skull.

A loud honking noise broke me from what felt like an hour long kiss. A pair of jocks in a truck not too far from us were chuckling and looking at Remy and I. I pulled away from Remy immediately and felt my entire defensive rage flood back into my brain. "What the hell?!" I stared at him angrily and had to fight the urge to crush him. Did he not realize what a danger he put us in? His little joke wouldn't be so funny if he had gotten absorbed and died in this car.

The Cajun fought it, but a crooked grin started to form on his face, "You didn't pull away either."

So that was his defense? Hadn't the jerk ever heard of shock? "You can be a real ass Remy LeBeau."

The boy looked at me for a moment with his confident persona, "Remy was just making sure."

"Sure of what?" I growled out at him and started to climb out the door.

Remy reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder gently, "Remy worries about you and figured that he should give you a little good luck kiss."

I sighed and rubbed my temples feeling very annoyed. As good as Remy seemed to think his intentions were it wasn't worth it. One slip and he would have been gone. Why didn't he get that?! I am not worth him getting hurt over! Why couldn't he enjoy teasing a girl who wouldn't drain the life out of him?!

It was at that moment I realized something important. Remy would miss me when I was gone. For some reason he did give a flip about what happened to me. And here I was off to face god knows what and he was getting emotional. During my nighttime planning session I had dealt with the thought that I might meet something more powerful than me when I reached my destination. And in all honesty I hadn't thought too much about it. As selfish as it seemed I figured it wouldn't be that bad for everyone. The x-men would be safe from my powers and I'd get to ignore the nightmare called regular humans. In truth it seemed the path was always more optimistic when it ended with me never coming back. I just had to make sure Remy wouldn't be attached to me. I bit my lip and decided to take the most painful, but effective route.

"Just stop worrying about me!" I furrowed my brow at him and kept my voice as sturdy as I could, "Just leave me fucking alone!" Remy stared at me in confusion since my powerful answered surprised him. As he tried to speak up and stop my angry rant, I slammed the car door hard enough for it to not be willing to open again.

I never looked back to see what Remy's reaction was. Though my mind said that was just part of the detachment plan, deep in my heart I knew it was my fear to see what expression would be covering his smooth face. As I walked away I couldn't help but think how ironic it was that this morning I had planned to race home as soon as possible and now from a few events I was ready to leave this place forever.


	11. Snow and Singing Caves

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men. I do own minor characters of my own creations.**

**Thank you to all my dedicated readers and new readers!**

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The classroom was still noisy when I shuffled in and plopped down in my chair next to Kitty. The valley girl watched me with the same curiosity Remy had, but didn't speak. Maybe she knew that I wasn't in the mood to talk about my feelings. Smart kid.

The teacher came into the room a few minutes later and handed out our tests with a sickening smile on his face. Why he seemed to get pleasure in our pain I didn't know. But as he stopped at my desk, the look in his eyes held the warning I knew he was thinking in the back of his head. If I managed to pass this test with anything better then a C he would accuse me of copying Kitty or cheating. The old fart had already made up his mind that I was a horrible science student, so getting a good grade at this point would be suspicious to him.

I took the test as quickly as I could. There really wasn't any point in wasting the effort to read a few of the questions, since all I could think about was that morning with Remy. I wanted to blame the Cajun. I wanted to be able to truthfully admit that these horrible feelings were all his fault, but I couldn't. For some reason I couldn't stop blaming myself for everything going on.

My pencil circled the last answer on the test just as the rest of the class was starting page three of the giant packet. Kitty watched me in curiosity as I got up from my chair, grabbed my bag, walked up to the confused teacher, and dropped my test in front of him. "Done."

"But, you…" He tried to think of some objection but came up with nothing, "Fine. Enjoy your break."

Once the words of freedom were spoken I took off out of the room. There was no time to sit and mope in the hallways over what happened this morning. I had a plan to take care of and I needed to get the last supply.

The library staff gave me a few strange looks as I entered the large room. They all seemed to be curious as to why a student would stop by the library this close to vacation. In order to ease their suspicions I walked over to the classic literature section and started to browse, "Now which would be a good car trip book…" The Librarians heard my fake musing and seemed to be appeased since they went back to their own work.

The rest of the library assignment was easy. I was able to check out the atlas with little suspicion from the librarians who seemed to think I truly was interested in finding places to go over the break. Seemed kinda naïve to me that they had no suspicion about me, but then again they had no idea what was really going on. They were blissfully unaware of everything.

Once I left the library I knew that it was now or never to complete my plan. The safest thing to do would be to get as far away from this place as I could. If I tried to find the location in the atlas now there would be a good chance one of the x-men would catch me. So, with a strangely heavy heart I made my way out to the back of the school and once I was a few feet away from the building I took off into the air and left the only true home I had for the mystery of a faraway place.

I loved flying. Being able to float by myself in the sky had always been my cheap form of therapy. But, now my mind was finding the flight to be almost torturous. Everything around me reminded me of the fact I was leaving everything I knew behind. And even though I fought it there was still the annoying voice in the back of my head trying desperately to convince me to turn around and go back home. When exactly had I grown so fond of the mansion and the x-men? I guess they had gotten under my skin more then I realized.

After a good three hours of flying through the skies I landed in the middle of a clearing. The place was surrounded by dense trees which seemed a great bonus since I was on the run from a group of mutants. I would need any bit of defense I could get to outrun the psychics and mister super sense Logan. Then again maybe they wouldn't search for me… Maybe they would realize what a benefit my leaving would be for them? I tried to focus on that though as I sat down my bag on the snow covered ground and pulled out a thicker jacket. Once I was bundled up in the extra layer I pulled out the atlas and started trying to figure out my destination. I had spent half of the night planning and studying the locket so the numbers were practically engraved in my brain.

The process was slow and boring since I had no real idea whether or not I was even in the right section of the map. Why was it that there had to be so many damn numbers on the thing?! "Come on!" I groaned and searched the pages of the thin book, "It's freezing out here. Just work with me!" My mind must have officially left me. Here I was in the freezing snow yelling at a book. What kind of idiot was I becoming?

"Damn book…" I shivered in my jacket and flipped another page or two, "Probably be better off using you as a fire starter. At least then you would be helpful-"

I stopped midsentence as something on the page caught my attention. With little if any hope, I stared closer at the page and started to try and decipher the numbers of the locations latitude and longitude. After a few moments of work, I found that the mystery location was no longer a mystery. It was just a long, long, long way from here. A sigh escaped my frozen lips as I stood up and pulled my hood over my head, then put my backpack back on. This was going to be a long and cold flight…

I lost track of how many hours I had been flying after the fifth hour rolled by. The sun had set a while ago and my speed had decreased because of it. I had already flown into a tree since there were no lights in the wooded area, and I was not going to run into another if I could help it. The snow had started to fall harder as the temperature dropped.

"Why coul…couldn't I go.. go on this se..search in the sum…sum..summer?!" I complained through shivers to the clouds raining snowflakes on my head steadily. Though I know it was immature, I half expected someone to yell back a response to me. I guess the silence was getting to me more then I wanted to admit. It made sense in a way that I would have grown used to being surrounded by noise. A mansion full of teenage mutants was always noisy, and now the silence around me was somewhat depressing.

I sighed softly and started too descended down into the forest covered area hoping that I could find some kind of shelter to get a few hours sleep out of the wind and snow. There wasn't much hope left in me that I would actually find a decent place to catch some sleep, but after a few minutes of wandering around the snow I spotted what looked like a cave of sorts nestled into a cliff like feature a few feet above the ground. It seemed strange to me that a cave or even a feature like the tall cliff would be in a place like this, but I wasn't going to argue with the chance for a place that held no snow.

Slowly I flew up to the mouth of the cave and looked inside. The place looked like it had never been used as a shelter. It was as if no human had ever been inside it. I figured there would have been something like cave drawings or heck even some trash from a bunch of tourists, but the place was completely empty of anything but its natural features.

My sore body collapsed inside the cave and leaned against the left wall. I couldn't remember the last time I had been this tired. Then again, I had never flown for so long without a break. The wind outside started to blow harder outside and even started to reach me inside the cave. I shivered and hugged my body to try and keep warm in the cold cave. If I could just get some sleep then everything would be better…

Sometime later I was awakened by a soft singing noise. My eyes blinked open slowly since a bit of frost had started to grow on my face. But, when I looked around the cave there was nothing in sight. My brain was too tired to investigate so I tried to pretend it was the wind. That thought let me fall back into my cold sleep until I started to hear the soft noise speak in a gentle tone.

"_Who are you? Who are you?" _

This time the strange voice's words somewhat disturbed me. I stood up from my position feeling my frozen joints ache with each movement. The voice started to grow louder as I began to wander further into the cave prepared for a fight if an attacker should jump out at me. My tired eyes scanned the deeper parts of the cave and were surprised to find not one single soul. There had to be someone making the noise… But who?

"_Do you know little girl?" _

As the voice came to me again I shivered, but followed the noise deeper inside the cave. I had no idea the dang thing was so long, but as I kept following the sing song voice I found myself wandering further and further into the cave.

"_Are you lost little girl? Can you not see with your heart?" _

The voice was singing some kind of tune to me now that didn't recognize. It was somewhat strange to me how the voice was enchanting yet at the same time incredibly creepy. There had to be someone in the cave with me. I was not just hearing this voice! Or was I? As I rounded another corner of the cave the voice grew silent. "Hello?" I looked around the room and saw nothing still. The place was pretty dark and looked empty from what I could tell.

After a few minutes of waiting I was ready to turn around and head back, but then I heard a small giggle like noise. My body jumped into a defensive pose, but relaxed somewhat as I heard a child's voice from the other side of the room.

"_Aren't you coming?!"_ The voice asked and let loose a familiar giggle that echoed off the walls of the cave.

My eyes opened wider and I took a few steps forward, "Molly?!" I caught my foot on some rock sticking up and fell to the floor of the cave.

"_Come on!"_ Molly, who I still couldn't see yelled once more.

"Look," I stood up and started to walk slowly over the raised floor, "I don't know what's going on here and I want some answer-" My words were cut off as I was suddenly blinded by a large light. I looked down and saw my locket start to glow with a brighter hue then it had even in the last fight. What was up with this damn thing?!

As the glow of the locket grew brighter I felt the floor beneath my feet start to heat up. My eyes looked down to what I had thought was merely a stone floor, and found a round raised floor starting to grow brighter under my feet.

"What the hell?!" I watched as my feet started to be surrounded by some kind of light that was slowly covering the rest of my body. I tried to fight the light, but it kept attaching itself to my body with greater force. "Let me go!!" I yelled as the blanket like light started covered my head and left me in a silent darkness.


	12. Sun and Not Much Fun

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own characters of my own creation. **

**Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys rock my socks ^ _ ^**

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The next sensation I felt was falling on my butt. After a few moments of blinking my eyes to try and get rid of the spots the bright lights had given my vision, I was able to look around and see where I was. The walls of the cave were long gone, as was the snow. In front of me laid a perfect summer meadow. The place looked like something out of a painting. The grass was a vibrant green and the wildflowers scattered about where made up of bright yellows and blues. Was I in Hawaii or something? Last I remembered it was the dead of winter with snow covering everything. And this place looked like a summer paradise.

My body stood up slowly, which let me have a better view of this new place. "What the heck have I gotten into?" I scanned the area around me and spotted what looked like a rabbit hiding a few feet away in the bushes. As silly as it seemed, I was glad to see another form of life. That at least meant I was on Earth still.

I tore my gaze from the rabbit and looked down to the platform under my feet. The platform was a large stone that had intricate designs carved delicately on it. I floated a few feet above it and looked down at the strange designs. From the sky you could see the pattern the carvings made. All of the designs worked together in a swirl like motion to create one gigantic swirl in the middle of the platform.

My curiosity was curbed as I heard a noise in the bushes behind me that was too noisy for a small rabbit. I turned around to face the source of the noise and saw what looked like a very tall and very muscular man standing in the clearing no more than three feet away from me. As my hands started to move up to push the hood of jacket back so I could get a better view of him he pulled out a large gun. I figured it would be best to see exactly what it was this guy thought he was going to do before I attacked him. As long as he didn't know the bullet would do practically no damage to me, I had the upper hand.

"So you've returned to the scene of the crime." His voice was the deepest I had ever heard.

"Crime?"

"Don't play innocent with me," He took a step closer and kept his gun out, "Now give back the jewels thief."

"Thief?" I blinked and stepped back from him as he kept coming closer with his eyes fixated on my necklace. How was it that I had been in this place for a total of three minutes and I was already a criminal?!

"Don't make this hard girlie. Just come along quietly."

I furrowed my own brow and gave him a sarcastic chuckle, "Look I don't know what you think I did, but this is my necklace and you are wasting my time." I gave the angry guard a small wave then flew up into the air. Strangely he didn't fire off his gun. The man just stood there staring up at me as I began to fly away.

"Well that is a kinda anti-climactic way to en-"

A sudden force rammed into my side and sent me flying across the clear sky. I was able to catch sight of the attacker since he did not move after ramming me. The young man had black eyes and dark brown hair, but the strangest thing of all was the pair of wings jutting out of his back. I had a flashback to meeting Angel with Scott for a moment, which proved to be a bad use of my mind as another hit came at me from the opposite side of my body.

I flew between the two attackers with such speed that I swore they thought I was a ping pong ball. But, after a few more hard hits I was able to get out of the trap and start flying away as fast as I could. The thought of leaving a fight was a bit chicken-ish, but in all truth I wasn't leaving anything. The two winged guards were right on my tail as I tried to get away. They didn't stop as I started to weave through the trees. In fact they must have known the forest better then I, because they caught up to me easily.

As I made it out of the forest into another clearing a more painful feeling hit me and threw me into the grass covered ground. I wasn't sure who had hit me, but I really felt pain from the hit so they must have been powerful. I spit out the dirt in my mouth then started to push my body up so I could get into a defensive pose, but once more a hard and painful hit me and sent me flying.

I felt my body hit the ground hard once more and knew that I would feel it in the morning. Then again if I didn't push myself up right now I _wouldn't_ have a morning tomorrow. My mind tried desperately to force my sore body to move, but my limbs were just too exhausted from all the flying and fighting. Even as one of the pursuers reached down and pushed my hood back to show my face, I found I couldn't move.

The last thing I heard before the lights once more went out on me was the man with deep voice letting out a long groan, "Shit…"


	13. Omelets and Mistaken Identities

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you all my readers and reviewers! ^ _ ^ **

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I was not sure how much time had passed since the world went black to me, but I did know that I wasn't in the woods anymore. As my mind started to stir slowly I could feel a soft mattress under my sore body. For a few moments I tried to keep my eyes closed and pretend that the whole mess had been a dream. But it was useless, because even I knew if this was a dream my body would not be aching so badly.

With a little effort I opened my eyes and sat up straight. The bright room that greeted me seemed out of place. I had just been called a thief and thrown into the dirt. Shouldn't I be in a prison or a grave or something dark and sinister? Maybe this place was just completely psychotic. Maybe this was torture to them. Then again, if this was their version of torture it might not be so bad.

The large room was decorated brightly and housed expensive looking items in every corner. There were statues, beautiful oriental rugs, and even a giant fire place on the opposite wall. The room was fit for a king. Even the Professor's room wasn't this nice! As I took in the grandeur of the room my mind couldn't help but start trying to turn my thoughts negative. They _must_ have made a mistake. There is no way they could be stupid enough to leave me in a fancy place like this. They would probably come back and get me when they were ready to kill me or worse…

The thought of being attacked gave my brain enough reason to force my sore body out of bed and onto the floor. I groaned and pushed myself up from the carpet and tried to get my balance back. How long had I been asleep anyway? It must have been a while since I had to get used to supporting my weight all over again. Once I was steady on my feet I walked towards the one full length mirror hanging by a pair of double doors.

I stared at the girl in the mirror and barley recognized my reflection. My hair was disheveled from sleep and my eyes were decorated with dark bags under them. There was a rough looking scratch on my cheek that I guessed had come from the fight. The wound seemed strange against my pale skin. I couldn't remember the last time I had been scratched hard enough for it to leave a mark.

As I looked down my body's reflection I noticed a few things that were unsettling. Besides the gold necklace, my pale body was clothed by only a light green tank top and large black sweat pants. The sweat pants were too large for me but they had a drawstring that I was able to tighten. The thought that someone had changed my clothes unnerved me to no end. And for that matter shouldn't the culprit be unconscious or something? How could the person avoid being absorbed if they were that close?

I heard a noise in the hallway and jumped in surprise. I listened as the noise passed by the rooms closed door. Whoever walked by wasn't interested in looking in my room so I was safe for the time being. I looked around the room hoping to see my real clothes, but there was nothing of mine in the entire room. My bag, shoes, clothes, gloves, and everything else was gone. They probably hid it away from me or something. If they really thought I was some thief I could understand why the jerks would search through my bag.

"Looks like I'll have to go on a search before I leave." I sighed softly and started to walk quietly to the door of the room. There was no noise on the other side, so slowly I pushed the large wooden door open. The hallway that greeted me was just as elegant as the room. There were large pictures and statues down each side of the hall. "Maybe I _am_ still dreaming…"

I slinked down the hall slowly hoping I was going in the right direction. The large place seemed to never end its twists and turns. Every time I was sure that I had found an exit I would end up in another hall way or a random room. The only thing that made sense in this place was that the owner was loaded. Just from the rooms I had peaked into I could tell the owner had more money then I thought existed in the world.

As I made another turn I was met with a small stair case. I peered down the stairs, but could not see the end. It took a few moments to coax myself to go down the stairs. With my luck they were probably the stairs to a dungeon. Then again they could be the way to a hidden escape door. And since flying out of this place would be impossible I could try and get out that door.

The stairs led me down to a deeper part of this elegant building. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I could tell that I was in a large kitchen. There were various pots and pans spread out around the immaculate room as if they had been placed at very special locations. Were they set out to cook something? I gulped a tiny bit, and then felt silly for even thinking about cannibalism.

I walked through the kitchen slowly and noticed how well stocked it really was. And for someone who hadn't eaten since the morning she was last conscious it was too good of an offer to pass up. I spotted a large bowl of fruit on a wooden table in the middle of the kitchen. They wouldn't miss one apple. I walked slowly closer to the table and grasped the apple in my hand.

"You know," a voice suddenly said from behind me, "We have more filling items in the fridge if you're hungry."

I jumped at the voice and soon found myself in the air directly above the table. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked down to find the source of the voice. A young man stood beside the table with an amused look on his face. In spite of my better judgment I couldn't help but stare at the boy. He looked about six foot one and had an athletic body build. On top of his head there was a thick amount of blondish brown hair that swept itself nicely to one side of his forehead. As I looked into his light greenish blue eyes I couldn't help but think he looked like a younger version of the Dr. Chase character from that House show Scott always watched.

"You do speak don't you?" The boy asked in a smooth voice still wearing an amused grin.

"That depends on who I feel like talking to." I let myself land on the other side of the table and watched him with curiosity.

"Ah," He smiled at me and took a step closer, "Seems like a smart concept. But you would miss out on getting to meet interesting people that way."

"I don't care about people." I growled out at him trying to scare him into telling me what I wanted, "Just tell me where the exit is."

"Why?"

"So I can leave."

"But you just got here."

"No, I was just kidnapped to here."

The boy nodded his head somewhat, "Ah I see your point. But you weren't kidnapped. I'd say you were more 'brought' here." He made air quotes around his choice of word then gave me a bigger grin.

I frowned at him and held up my hand, "Look either you give me answers or I take them."

"You don't get out in the sun much do you?" He asked me the question then stared at my arms.

With a frustrated growl I closed my eyes tightly then stuck my hand on his cheek and waited for absorption to begin.

"Ummm… What are you trying to do?"

I opened one of my eyes and looked up to see him staring down at me with curiosity. "Wha…" I looked in shock to my hand still resting on his cheek. There was no absorption. He was perfectly fine! It was as if I had never touched the boy! How the hell did he do that?!

"If you really want to touch me how about we just hold hands?" The boy captured my hand in his and held it calmly, "Will that work?"

I yanked my hand out of his grasp and stared at him in shock, "What…. What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing that I know of." He shrugged and leaned against the counter.

"How come you weren't absorbed?!"

"Absorbed?" He blinked and thought the word over, "I don't know. Do you want to try again?"

His tone ticked me off to an even greater degree. He acted like a parent trying to appease a small child. I didn't need a do over. There was just something wrong with him! "Look, there has to be something wrong with you!"

"Why?"

"Because I can't absorb you. My skin is dangerous to anyone it touches. But here you are pretending your fine!"

"I am fine." He chuckled and stood up from the counter. He reached out and took my hands before I could pull them away and stared down into my eyes, "There is nothing wrong with your skin. It feels perfectly normal to me."

As he held my hands in his I couldn't help but be caught up in the fact that I was actually touching another human being's skin. My worry and shock was pushed aside for the moment as I focused on the feeling of the strange mans warm hands. They were soft and smooth to my touch. The boy remained silent as I watched our hands in fascination. It was almost like he knew how much being able to touch someone else's skin meant to me. But there was no way he could know that. If he had any idea about my powers he would have jumped when I tried to touch him earlier. Right?

"You know," He said breaking the silence, "You can always hold my hand later if you want. But if you will let go I'll cook you something."

I jumped back from him feeling quite embarrassed as my common sense kicked back in. "I don't need any food." I informed him as my stomach let out a loud growl. "I just need the exit."

"You can't go now." He looked at me concerned.

"Oh really? Why not?"

"Well for one you haven't eaten since you got here yesterday. So you need something to eat. And two you have a lot of catching up to do."

"Catching up? On what? I've never been to this crazy place before so there is nothing to catch up on! Now where is the damn exit?"

The boy shook his head and gave me a smile, "Look if you promise to eat a decent meal, and let me explain some things to you, I will let you go."

"What kind of trick is this?"

"It's not a trick at all. Just agree to eat and listen to me for a bit and then you are free to leave if you wish."

I didn't believe him, but as I stared into his eyes I couldn't help but feel somewhat compelled to agree. It wasn't as if this plan could go sour on me. I'd get a free meal, some rambling conversation, and then I was out of this loony bin. And even if he tried to double cross me I was sure that my super strength could take care of him. "Alright. Fine…" I relented in a groan and watched him chuckle in amusement.

"Well then. You are in for a culinary treat." He took my hand in his warm one again and brought me to a tall counter like chair that sat by the kitchens island. I climbed into the seat and watched him head over to the fridge and grab some random ingredients. He moved in a fluid motion that seemed as if his feet were dancing across the floor instead of walking. I watched in silence at first as what he began to cut up some bell peppers with a large chef's knife.

"You know," I spoke up slowly and he glanced over to my face, "If you are going to make spend time with you the least you could do is tell me your name."

He smiled at me and went back to cutting vegetables, "My name is Jude Kingston."

"Jude…" I mulled it over in my mind until he held out a piece of green bell pepper to me. I took the small piece of vegetable and munched on it quickly. My stomach growled again as if it was expecting me to fill it quicker. I guess it had been a long while since I had eaten anything. Jude ate a piece himself then went to work on what looked like making us some omelets. "Don't ya wanna know my name?" I asked him after a few moments of silence.

Jude worked with the eggs in the pan like a trained professional. His movements were always very fluid and graceful as if he was incapable of falling or tripping. The boy gave a soft chuckle as my question reached his ears, "Sure. Why not."

I watched the amused smile grow on his face and started to grow a bit annoyed. What was so funny about me offering my name? He acted like I had asked him something stupid. The jerk was even smiling that large dumb smile he had earlier.

"Are you going to tell me?" He asked and took the omelets off the stove and scooted them on a plate.

"Rogue."

"Interesting." He mused the thought then placed the two omelets in front of me and handed me a fork.

I tried to eat slowly at first and wound his pride a bit by acting like it wasn't that good, but my will power left and soon I had devoured both omelets. Jude had not been kidding when he said that he could make a culinary masterpiece. I hated to admit it, but his omelet was pretty damn good.

"So?" He smiled at me as if he expected a grand answer.

"It was alright." I shrugged my shoulders somewhat.

"Alright?" He laughed somewhat, "You practically ate the plate as well. They were amazing."

"It's good to know you are modest Jude."

The boy chuckled and smiled at me, "I never said I was modest. I just said I was a good cook."

I wasn't sure how long we talked about the eggs, but it had to have been a while since the next thing I realized Jude was leading me down the hallways of the building like a tour guide. He pointed out certain things as we walked by the statues and paintings that lined the walls. The strange thing was I started to feel a tiny bit comfortable around him. For the first time since my powers started I didn't have to worry that I would hurt someone with a simple touch.

"Now this," Jude stopped in front of a large painting in one of the more decorated hallways, "Is one of the most important paintings here."

I stared at the work and found it to be a picture of a regal looking family. There was a set of parents wearing royal looking jewels and a bunch of kids positioned around them dressed in exquisite clothes.

"These were the rulers of this land." Jude started motioning to the painting as he named off the people to me, "First we have King Thomas Lenox and his wife Queen Lydia Lenox. And then their children Nicholas Barron Anthony Lenox, Lyre Madeline Lenox, and Marina Nicole Lenox."

I studied each member of the family and found that they all shared the same similar features. "I guess brown hair was popular in this family."

Jude shrugged softly and watched me an interested expression on his face.

As I stared closer at the painting I realized that Jude had overlooked someone. There was a tiny girl standing beside her father's legs in the picture. The child looked no older than three, but she had a wise look in her large green eyes. "You didn't name one you know."

"Really?" Jude walked beside me with an expression that seemed strange, "Which one."

"The toddler by the king." I pointed to the child and he studied her face for a few moments.

"So what?"

"Who is she?" I asked him wondering why he was being so vague with me.

"Her name is Alexandria Gracelyn Rose Lenox."

"Whoa, big name…" I stared at the little girl in curiosity and wondered if she would even be able to say her full name.

"It is a bit long." Jude agreed then looked at my face, "But that wasn't the interesting thing about her."

"What was the interesting thing about her then?"

"She's the heir to the throne."

"Really?" I looked at the painting once more, "But they got a son who looks older. Isn't that how this stuff usually works?"

"Not here." Jude looked at me with a deep expression, "Here the heir is found by chance. There is always one child who is born to the royal family that will become the heir to the throne."

I stared at the painting for a moment and studied the toddler's bright face. She looked no different than the other kids around her. What made her the chosen one? Maybe they chose by the kid's birthday or maybe it was some weird tradition these people had to pick randomly. It must suck to be the kid not chosen. "So they really picked the little girl?"

"Yes," Jude said with a serious face, "They picked you."

His words surprised me into silence for a moment or two, "Wait…. I think you miss spoke or something. You said they picked me. You meant her."

"No," Jude was still serious, "I mean they picked you. You are the rightful heir Alex."

"Crap…" I mumbled under my breath. I had gotten myself stuck in a royal loony bin.


	14. Authority and Negotiations

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers. **

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Jude's green-blue eyes took in my disbelieving face with little surprise. He ran a hand through his hair and waited until I began to blink again before he continued, "I know it's hard to believe."

"You mean impossible."

Jude chuckled at me and shrugged his wide shoulders, "I had trouble believing it at first too."

"That's because you shouldn't believe fairy tales!"

"This is no fairy tale." A deep voice broke into our conversation.

I looked to my right and saw the man who had wielded the gun and fake accusations earlier walking closer to Jude and me. I really had no luck in this world did I? With an annoyed sigh my body took up a fighting stance ready for whatever this gigantic man was going to try, "You again." The words came out in a growl that seemed so annoyed it reminded me of something wolverine would say.

The tall man walked closer to me and once he was closer dropped to one knee in front of me, "I am terribly sorry for my earlier actions your highness."

"Er… what…" I looked down at the huge man, unsure what kind of trick this was.

"I shall make this up to princess."

"Uh no. That's ok…"

"My actions were unforgivable and I will with your blessing my princess, devote the rest of my years to guarding you from any harm."

"Yea," I watched him with and wondered how he could change so quickly. One moment he is prepared to shoot me and now he is pledging his life to me? "Well," I tried to think of the right way to speak to the man so he would get the point, "I don't plan on staying here much longer so it doesn't really matter. And by the way stop calling me princess."

The man looked up to my eyes, "Yes your highness."

"Don't call me that either."

"Majesty?"

"No."

"Ruler?"

"Noooo."

"Empress?"

"NO!"

Jude was snickering behind me at this point. The guard merely racked his brain to find another term to address me. "Look," I sighed softly and rubbed my temples to kill the oncoming headache, "If you have to call me anything just use my name."

"Alexandria?"

"No! No! No!" I grumbled growing frustrated and Jude laughed harder, "My name is Rogue. R-o-g-u-e. And I am not this princess Alex chick!"

The tall guard nodded his head slowly as if he was trying to take in all my words, "Then I vow to spend the rest of my years guarding Rogue."

A sigh escaped my lips and I rubbed my temples harder, "Sure. Whatever makes you happy…"

The guard watched me try to calm myself by taking a few deep breaths, then looked to Jude, "They wanted to speak with you again sir. And I am sure they will be delighted to see that _Rogue_ is awake." His smile fell on me once he got my name correct.

"Thank you Axel," Jude spoke up in a professional tone and looked to me, "Are you ready to meet the others?"

"I thought I got to leave now."

Jude nodded his head slowly, "The deal was that you could leave once I was done explaining things."

"Fine!" I grumbled and started to march off down the hall, "This better be a damn short meeting."

The boys caught up to me quickly, since my short strides were nothing to their long 'manly' ones. After they caught up to me they stayed completely silent. The only noise in our trio was Axel clearing his throat once or twice as Jude led all of us to this meeting. It was a bit strange to be surrounded by two tall silent men as they led me through unfamiliar territory. "Ya know," I looked up at each of them then stared straight ahead, "You two are kinda creepy when you're silent."

Jude chuckled softly and Axel looked down at me with curiosity, "Well what would you like to talk about Rogue?"

The thought of finally getting a few of my questions answered was quite exciting. Hopefully, Axel wouldn't be as vague as a certain other man had been. "Well, for starters where am I?"

"Lenox."

"What state is that in?"

"State?" Axel said the word slowly as if he was hearing it for the first time. After a few minutes of thinking the guard looked at me with a bit of disappointment. The look in his dark brown eyes told me exactly what was wrong. He had no idea how to answer my question. It seemed odd, but his eyes shone with a kind of truth that even I couldn't miss.

"It's an Earth thing." Jude spoke up and looked to the taller man with a calm face.

"Oh! Yes. I remember hearing about those now."

I stared at the two boys in surprise. What did Jude mean it was an _Earth_ thing? And for that matter how could someone as old as Axel not know what States are? "Am I missing something?" The question came out softly, but Jude's intense eyes were staring at me immediately. He let out a gentle sigh then stopped our procession so he could stand directly in front of me.

"Rogue, this isn't the world you knew."

"Ok…" I watched the boy and wished he would just spit out a complete answer.

"You stepped on a light stone in your dimension, and it brought you here."

"And here is?"

"This is the Lenox Dimension. It is a lot like your dimension, but this dimension is ruled by the Lenox family."

My eyes watched the man before me in shock. He really expected me to believe I had somehow been teleported to another dimension by a rock?! That was impossible! What kind of idiot did he take me for anyway? "Okay," I shook my head and watched him with disbelieving eyes, "I must have hit that tree harder than I thought."

"That is the truth Rogue." Axel spoke up this time," The Lenox family is the highest power on the entire planet. They are above all other governing bodies in Lenox."

"Others?" Though I was not sure why, Axel's words seemed to hold a more truthful ring then Jude's.

"Yes," Axel smiled and seemed to enjoy the chance to explain Lenox policies to me, "There are multiple power holders stationed around Lenox. It would be all but impossible for the King and Queen to make it to every village in the dimension. So, they rely on various representatives to take care of the residents and alert the King and Queen when they need help."

"Oh," I nodded my head slowly as I tried to take in all the words, "But why are the Lenox the most powerful?"

"Oh that's easy." Axel smiled wider and started to motion with his hands, "You see the Lenox are descended from a long line of m-"

"Pardon me." A cold voice suddenly cut Axel off in mid-sentence.

I noticed Axel go down into his submissive kneeling pose immediately. This was starting to become a pretty common movement for the giant man. Unlike Axel, Jude merely stood up straight and kept right beside me. The weird thing about Jude was how quickly the warm emotions and playful nature could drain from his face. As he stared straight on I could see his bright eyes had become a dull grey color that was almost an insult to his true green-blue hue. After watching the two men react I turned to face the mood killer.

The man was taller than Jude, but nowhere near the gigantic height of Axel. He was skinny and pale, which made his body look weak and sickly. The man had a pointed chin, which he tilted down just enough to be able to stare at me through a pair of tiny glasses perched at the end of his nose. He ignored Axel and Jude and addressed me first, "It's very good to see you awake Princess."

"Rogue." I corrected the skeleton man quickly and stared into his deep yellow colored eyes.

"Alright," he bowed his head to me, "My apologies Rogue."

It didn't make sense to me, why these people all treated me like my word was law. Did they really think I was this princess chick? These people could really use a reality check if they thought _I_ was royalty. There was no way that could be true.

The skeleton man looked to Jude, "You are late for the meeting Judah."

Jude nodded his head softly, "I got tied up in something Griffin."

Griffin nodded his bony face and finally turned to Axel, "You may rise guard."

Axel stood up slowly and gave the man a curt nod, "Thank you sir."

I hated to see the one person in this place that had been kind enough to answer my questions be kicked around like some kind of servant. As I stared at Axel and Griffin though, an idea began to form in my head. If they already assumed I was this powerful princess why shouldn't I try out my 'power'? I owed Axel a favor anyway, so why not help him now? I cleared my throat softly and all three men looked at me, "His name is Axel."

Griffin watched me for a moment then dipped his head in a reluctant nod, "All right. I shall make sure he is addressed by that title from now on."

"Thanks Grif." I smiled at the man and watched his face tense slightly when I shortened his name. It was strange how much joy giving the order gave me. It had been a long time since anyone had listened to me, so this was rather fun. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad if they thought I was this princess for a bit. At least that way I got a little bit of respect.

"Judah," Griffin looked at the young man beside me, "I will go alert the others that you have arrived. I'll expect both of you shortly."

Griffin gave me a grand bow before he stood straight up once more and started to walk away from us. Once he seemed out of hearing range I let out a small shiver, "He is creepy."

Jude laughed softly at my words and patted my back with his warm hand, "Don't mind him. He's just a firm believer in the old customs and practices."

"Well, I hope I don't have to spend any time with him."

"He is the highest advisor. I have a feeling he will want to see you." Jude laughed softly and watched me think over his words. After a few minutes of considering what it would be like to have to spend time with the skeleton man I shook my head quickly, "Just take me to this meeting and then I am out of here."

Axel started to walk forward the moment Jude began to lead us again. I had to try and hurry my steps in order to keep up with the tall boys. As we walked along in silence once more I took the chance to study Axel more closely. The man was a true giant that much was certain. I only came up to what I figured had to be his belly button. The man looked like he could kill _anyone_ stupid enough to try and fight him.

"Hey Axel?"

The behemoth of a man smiled down at me kindly, "Yes?"

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving this place as soon as this meeting is over so you shouldn't give that whole guard thing a second thought ok?"

"I have sworn to protect you. And a true guard never goes back on his word. If you must go I shall go with you and make sure no harm comes to you."

I was about to inform Axel that he would have trouble fitting in with humans that rarely grew taller than seven feet max, but I was caught off guard by a set of tall armored guards standing like statues in front of two large oak doors. The guards were just as large as Axel, but they did not hold the friendly quality he did. Both statue like men gave me and then Jude separate bows before stepping out of the way of the doors.

Axel leaned forward and pulled the door open for Jude and I, then followed us into the room. I could see the room was quite large and that we were on a raised platform, since on both sides of our trio there were stairs covered in a lush red rug leading downward. The room interested me, but before I could see any more of it, Griffin decided to butt in once more.

"Welcome." Griffin addressed our group in a confident voice. I tried to look around his boney frame so I could see more of the grand room, but he moved each time I did to block me from sight.

"Is the council ready?" Jude asked Grif and tried to stop my squirming by laying a gentle hand on my back.

"Yes," Griffin nodded and looked down at me, "I shall announce your presence immediately. The council members are very excited to see you." Without another word the skeleton man turned around and walked towards the railing of the upper level. He stood perfectly straight and addressed what I figured was the council down below, "My fellow council members, it gives me great joy to stand before you on such an auspicious occasion. We have reason to celebrate throughout all of Lenox today. For today, the true heir to the throne has come back to us. So, it gives me great pleasure to introduce her Royal Highness Alexandria Gracelyn Rose Lenox Princess of all Lenox." Griffin stepped aside and motioned for me to come forward.

I stepped closer to the railing with a nervous stomach, and clung tightly to the cold stone railing. Below me were a hundred people of different races and genders shouting out cheers and praises. Each person bowed or curtsied as I stared at them curiously. I could understand a few people mistaking me for this princess, but _all_ of these people couldn't possibly believe I was their princess. What was wrong with these people?! Here I was dressed in a tank top and over sized sweat pants and they are proclaiming allegiance to me! There was something terribly wrong with this place.

Jude walked up to my side and placed his hand gently on my back once more, "There was something I forgot to mention." He whispered the words in my ear, but I couldn't pull my eyes from the crowd below to look at him.

"What?"

Griffin cleared his throat then and stood behind us, "And I am pleased to announce that now Lenox can finally have the royal wedding they have been waiting for. Three cheers for the Princess and her betrothed, Sir Judah Carson Kingston!"

As the crowd below started to cheer happily, Jude mumbled into my ear, "That."

I stood in complete shock as the crowd started to pat each other on the back and shout messages of good will to us. How could Jude forget to mention this Alex girl was his fiancée?! While it was a bit fun to be respected by these people, there was no way I was in this for marriage! My stomach started to churn nervously as the image of me being married started to appear in my mind. Slowly, I stepped back from Jude and Griffin and mumbled out my shocked rebuttals.

Axel's gloved hands held my shoulders softly as I backed into his large body, "Are you alright Rogue?" He looked down at me with a great deal of worry.

As I looked up to his face I spotted the quickest escape from this loony bin. Without a single thought my body shot up from the crowd and headed straight through the thick roof covering the building. Once I reached the outside, my eyes looked around anxiously for the stone that had brought me here.

Luckily, the stone was not too far away from what I could see now was the _loony bin castle_. I flew to the large stone and landed on the center of it, "Ok!" I shouted at the stone in a panicked voice, "Take me back now!" I waited motionlessly for the lights to wrap around my body and take me back to a sane dimension.

But nothing happened.

"What the hell?!" I yelled at the stone again and tried to make it work by closing my eyes and focusing on my destination or anything to do with Earth in general.

"That was a pretty big exit."

I opened one of my eyes and saw Jude and Axel standing a few feet away from the stone. My brow furrowed as I stared at Jude, "Why the hell didn't you tell me that Alex girl was your fiancée?!"

"I was going to."

"When?!" I snapped at him, "On the fucking honeymoon?!"

Jude sighed and rubbed his temples, "Look Rogue I-"

"Save it!" I snapped at him and turned to the stone under my bare feet, "If you value your life Jude you'll shut the hell up." Jude sighed and watched me in silence beside a very worried looking Axel. For the first time since I had met him, Jude actually didn't put up a fight when I asked him to do something. Maybe there was hope for preserving my sanity yet…

FIVE hours later I was no closer to escaping the royal loony bin! While Axel and Jude had played cards under the shade trees nearby, I had been trying everything I could think of to make the stone work. By this point, my tactic was simply dive bomb the damn thing from the sky in hopes it would come to life. Each dive ended in a ground shaking tremor, but the stone remained unscratched.

"How long are you going to do this?" Jude looked at me from his spot leaning against a large tree's trunk.

"Until I get out of here!" I growled at him.

"Wow." Axel yawned then continued his statement, "You must really want to get back to this Earth place."

As my chest panted from all the effort I put out to get the stone to work, I couldn't help but think about Axel's words. What was there for me on the other side? The humans hated mutants more each day, the students treated me like some kind of giant joke, and I was a clumsy ticking time bomb to the other x-men. All that I was running to was a life where I disappointed and endangered everyone.

"Rogue?" Jude stood up and watched me closely.

"What?!"

"Look why don't you admit that you can't leave and just head in and rest some?"

"I'm not staying here!"

"Oh yeah, you've made excellent progress in getting out so far!"

"What do you want me to do?!" I demanded of him, "Click my heels together three times?!"

"Well-"

"Forget it!" I snapped and stood face to face with Jude. We stared into each other's eyes, neither daring to blink and risk looking subordinate.

"Whoa, guys." Axel walked towards us and placed a gloved hand on each of our shoulders, "Rogue, why do you want to leave? I know it's not my place but just now you looked heartbroken at the thought of going to the other dimension."

I sighed and broke my gaze war with Jude to look at Axel, "Look, Axel this place is beautiful, but I just wouldn't fit here. And besides, there is no way I am going to be forced into a marriage. I'm not this Alexandria girl."

"I don't want to marry you!" Jude interjected and looked me in the eyes, "Believe it or not I am not thrilled with having my love life planned out for me."

"Well," I relented somewhat, "Maybe you're not a complete psycho then."

Jude offered me the same playful grin he had when we had talked over omelets, "After all that has happened today, I appreciate that." He offered me a few more minutes of playful grins, and then took on a more serious face, "But, there is a more serious issue here then just us."

"Like what?"

"Since the Lenox reign was interrupted the dimension has fallen into chaos. No one knows who the rightful heir is supposed to be. The council has already had to squash several uprisings by various villages. But now word has spread that the true Lenox heir is back and the people are hopeful again. I'm worried that if you leave now they will fall into a chaos that even the council cannot fix."

"Look," I glanced at my feet feeling slightly guilty since I still wanted to get out of being a princess, "I am sorry about your dimension, but I am not Alexandria."

"Are you sure?" Axel piped up.

"Of course I'm sure. I would know if I was a princess."

Jude placed a hand under my chin and raised my head slowly. He gave me a soft smile and asked in a low whisper like voice, "Then why does the locket glow for you?" He let go of my chin and kept a soft look in his colorful eyes, "Tell me do you remember your childhood? The princess was taken from us when she was only five years old."

I was a bit stumped by Jude's questions, and that really bothered me. The locket did do strange things for me. Unless it supposedly lit up and shot out light for everyone, and I just didn't know it. As for the childhood, I knew that it had always been foggy for me. The earliest memory I had was waking up in a hospital to find mystique and Irene sitting by my bed. They had explained that I had been in an accident and that I was going to live with Irene. I hadn't realized it back then, when they took me from the hospital, that the doctors had no idea I was going with them. But, looking back on it now I could see the obvious signs that what they had done was wrong. While I had given my past life some thought over the years, I had never thought that it could be this grand. I always assumed that my parents were just simple people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no way someone like me could be a long lost princess. Things like that just didn't happen in real life…

"Rogue," Jude looked down into my eyes and asked softly, "I'll make a deal with you okay?"

"What kind of deal?"

"Since you obviously aren't able to make the teleportation stone work, why don't you stay here? To me, Griffin, and Axel you are Rogue, but to the rest of Lenox you will be Alexandria. We can contact a memory unlocker, who might be able to help us look into your early years and prove that you are the true princess."

"And when they find out that I'm not the heir?"

"Look at it this way. If you are not the princess then you just got a five star vacation for free. We will take the blame and explain it to the public while you head off to your past dimension or wherever you want to go. But, if you do turn out to be the true heir you will have a whole dimension that belongs to you and only you. You can't lose."

My brain tried to digest the young man's words every way it could in hopes that I could find the downside. But after a minute or two of thinking I still couldn't find a problem with the plan. I'd get to be viewed as someone who wasn't a mess or a disaster for a couple of days and in the end I could walk away with no strings attached. I took one more glance at the rock below me, before giving in to the deal, "Alright. Deal." I shook the hand Jude stuck out at me and watched the boy's mood grow happy once more.

Jude gave me a wide smile and Axel followed the facial movement quickly with his own grin. Jude kept a hold of my hand and started to lead me towards the castle. Axel followed behind me with a big grin on his face as he hummed what sounded like a victory tune. "So," I looked at Jude curiously before yanking my hand from his in order to hold up my oversized pants, "what does a fake princess do exactly?"

"First," Jude watched me hold up the pants with an amused grin, "We'll need to get you some clothes that fit."

So two minutes into the princess charade and I was already being set up for a day of fashion. Great…


	15. Information and Defense

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation. **

**Thank you to all my readers and reviewers! ^ _ ^**

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For the first time in a long time I had a good night of sleep. The peaceful slumber could have easily lasted me all day, but the bright light that began to fill the room had other ideas. My eyes cracked open slowly and I tried to squash the urge to attack whoever was brave enough to turn on the lights. The first thing I saw in the bright room was a plump woman walking away from my now uncovered window.

"Good morning, your highness." She had a cheery, almost sing song, way of speaking that made my sleepy mind hurt. The plump woman seemed unaware of her voice's effect since she walked right up to my bed and started to neatly set out some clothes at the end of the bed. Her outfit gave me a clue that she was some type of maid or servant, but I wasn't completely sure if that was her job.

"Mornin'." I mumbled out and ran my hands through the disheveled mess that I called hair. The woman walked away from my bed and grabbed a pair of black shoes by the door and placed them on the floor beside my bed. I took a moment or two to examine the clothes she had set out for me at the foot of my bed. Among the garments was a long sleeve black shirt, a pair of black leggings that looked just long enough to cover my knees, a mini forest green dress, and the pair of gloves I had worn when I first came to this dimension. Seeing the gloves ignited a strange excitement in me since they were the only thing I had from my original dimension. I guess Jude had finally decided to stop being a butt and give me my stuff back.

"What would you like for breakfast dear?" The plump woman was staring at me again with a wide smile.

It was rather strange to be waited on hand and foot like this. I had never had someone set out my clothes and offer to serve me breakfast. Did the royals do anything for themselves? "That's ok," I spoke up slowly since the woman grew a disssapointed face. She seemed to have been excited about the idea of bringing me breakfast. "I'll just grab something in the kitchen." The main kitchen was the only room in the entire maze like castle that I knew how to find.

"Oh, alright dear." She gave a small curtsy to me and added, "If you need anything at all just give me a ring your highness." I watched the lively woman leave the room with a little bit of disappointment in her eyes, before forcing myself to get out of the comfy bed.

Jude had gotten me a new room after we sealed our deal last night. I hadn't thought it was necessary, but Griffin and Jude had both told me a princess, even a fake one, had to stay in something better then a guest room. I wasn't sure if it was even possible, but the new room was even more beautiful and grand then my first room. The room could have easily fit three of the mansion's bedrooms inside of it. There was a gigantic closet on the left side of the room that would probably have made Kitty and Jean burst into tears of joy since it was as large as a bedroom. The overdone room even had its own ornamental fire place! For me, though the best part of the room was the gigantic bathroom. Inside that porcelain palace was a grand spa tub, a wonderful shower with multiple shower heads, and a full supply of makeup and other beauty products. It was the kind of bathroom the women at the mansion would fight tooth and nail to get.

Since there didn't seem to be a large rush to get ready I took my time getting cleaned up and dressed in the only outfit I had in this dimension. I was surprised to find that the clothes given to me actually fit pretty well. The green dress was a bit shorter then I was used to, but the black leggings, which did reach just below my knees, gave me a boost of self-confidence.

After finishing my dressing I tried to get my hair to behave for me, so I could style it in a summer fashion. After a few minutes of struggling I finally managed to pull the auburn locks back into a messy bun, while my stubborn white streaks flowed freely. If I didn't know better I would have sworn the damn things had a mind of their own.

I glanced in the mirror one last time and wondered if I was dressed like a different dimension princess. The only thing I remembered about princesses was that Disney said they were girly and sugary sweet. There was also the matter that they were usually dressed in some kind of long gown. But, maybe a princess in Lenox usually dressed this way. Maybe their royalty was a casual royalty. There was no use in worrying about my appearance, so I left the room without another glance to the mirror. I took one step outside of my door and was greeted by a kneeling Axel.

"Morning Alexandria." He smiled up at me and seemed to enjoy using what I considered my code name now. "Griffin has prepared a whole day of shopping for you. He thought you might like to go out and shop amongst the people."

I cringed a little at the thought of shopping an entire day and having crowds of people paying attention to me. "Great…" A sarcastic remark slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it and sent Axel into a laugh.

"Jude said the same thing. You two are so similar."

I furrowed my brow and started to stalk off down the hall, "I am nothing like Jude." I informed the guard who followed me easily. Axel continued to chuckle under his breath as we walked to the main kitchen together. I was about ready to yell at him, when a delicious aroma wafted towards me.

Axel took a deep breath of air and gave me a smile, "He's in a good mood today."

"Who's in a good mood?"

Axel grinned at me and opened the door to the kitchen, "You'll see soon enough." I shrugged my shoulders and didn't push the subject. Slowly I walked down the stairs to the kitchen and kept my eyes out for someone or something that was creating the delicious smell.

The kitchen was alive with smells and sounds, even though there was only one human inside it. Unlike my surprised face, Axel's broke into a large toothy smile. The large man walked over to the kitchen's wooden island and sat at a bar stool conveniently placed nearby. While Axel stared with a definite hunger in his eyes at the pots and pans, I watched Jude flip something in a frying pan with expertise. "So," I tilted my head at him and walked closer, "I see your cooking again."

"I enjoy cooking." The boy offered me a bright smile that caused his eyes to twinkle.

Axel chuckled from his chair and declared, "And the rest of us enjoy eating it, so keep on going."

Jude shared in the giant man's laughter then left his position by the stove to grab some plates. I took his moment of distraction to check out what he was in fact cooking. It was quite surprising to find the pots and pans filled with various southern breakfast foods. "What are you up to Jude?" I found it a little suspicious that he would cook foods so familiar to me. Then again, there was probably little chance that he would even know they were foods I enjoyed.

"Well," he nudged me away from the stove, "I am currently working on a southern medley."

"A medley huh?" It seemed kind of funny to hear Jude use cooking terms. It was probably prejudice, but I could have seen him as more of a prep then a chef.

"Food shouldn't be just one thing." Jude gave me a large grin, "A real meal needs the perfect supporting dishes."

"Well if you want it to be perfect," I started to reach for one of the spice containers setting on the counter nearby, "You need to add-"

Jude tapped my hand playfully with a wooden spoon, "No way. My food, my spice choices." After informing me of this the young man gave me a large smile that made his eyes sparkle once more.

"Fine. But, just wait until I mop the floor with your food. You can't beat a true southerner when it comes to this kind of thing."

Axel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "You two should have a cook off or something. I'll pick the recipes and even judge."

"You just want someone to cook for you." Jude chuckled and filled a plate with a large amount of food.

"If you had eaten my cooking as long as I have, you would be desperate for something good too." The look of disgust on Axel's face as he recalled past cooking experiences was so entertaining, even I had to laugh.

The laughter died softly as another person walked into the kitchen. The new woman gave me a curtsy then took a seat next to Axel who blushed and turned his head as he tried to hide the redness. She was dressed in a somewhat bland outfit compared to the colorful ones Jude and I wore. But her khaki colored attire seemed to go well with the long blonde curls that cascaded down her back like a waterfall. The girl's eyes were a light brown color with little gold flecks sprinkled randomly in them. I was so distracted by her appearance that I completely missed the girl introducing herself to me.

Jude nudged me softly then set down plates for the four of us at the wooden island. The nudge brought me back to reality and reminded me I should speak up so I didn't look stupid, "It's nice to meet you." My brain tried to pull a name out for the woman, but came up with nothing.

"It's an honor to meet you too your highness." The brown eyed woman nodded her head politely to me.

"_Eleanor_ is one of the newest members in the training leaders." Jude piped up as he handed some silverware out to Axel.

I knew he had stressed the name for my benefit so I made a mental note to thank him later. Then again, I wish he had also mentioned more about this training thing. I figured it must be like a military or something. But what enemy did the people of Lenox have? And for that matter, how could someone as thin and fragile looking as Eleanor be a good defense?

Axel smiled shyly at Eleanor then spoke up in a voice that brought a blush to the girl's cheeks, "Ellie worked really hard to get her powers in control. She is one of the strongest members of the training group."

"Wow." I smiled slightly at the blushing Eleanor and tried to picture her in a fight. "So you have powers too?"The kitchen was silent for a moment then burst into chuckles and giggles. Eleanor tried to hold her giggles in, but the boys didn't even try to hide their amusement.

"What?" I demanded with an annoyed tone.

Eleanor watched me slightly worried, "Are you serious your highness?"

"Of course I'm serious-"

"Didn't you hear?" Jude interrupted me and laid his hand on mine softly as if he was terribly distraught, "The princess had an accident and doesn't remember anything about her past life." He held my hand softly in his and kissed the top of my hand, "You never saw that tree coming did you?" I could hear Eleanor gasp as Jude lied to her. In the corner of the jerk's eyes though, I could see a gleam of amusement that he got to poke fun of my uncanny ability to crash into trees. "You see," Jude continued holding my hand still, "She is still trying to adjust to Lenox. Her mind is still set to the Earth dimension."

I was surprised by how shocked Eleanor was by Jude's long web of lies. The woman gave me deep looks of pity then started to voice her feelings, "Oh my. Your highness that is so terrible!"

I tightened my grip on Jude's hand slowly, "It's alright. I'll manage somehow." I gripped Jude's hand with a bit of my super strength and the boy fought the urge to rip his hand from mine. "Isn't that right Jude?"

Jude took his hands from mine and forced a smile on his face, "Definitely."

Axel watched us stand together on the opposite side of the island with an amused smirk on his face. If I hadn't known better I would have sworn he could see that Jude and I had started a silent kicking war under the island. I must have stepped on the jerk's foot a little too hard though, because he let out a grunt of sorts that caught everyone's attention.

"Are you okay?" Eleanor jumped out of her seat and watched Jude force out a smile. The boy took a breath and nodded his head, "Fine. I just stubbed my toe on the bottom of the island." Behind Eleanor Axel mouthed, 'Rogue 2 and Jude 1', with a large grin on his face. Jude moved away from me and stuffed a bit of food in his mouth. I felt slightly bad for him. So I tried to be nice and play along with this amnesia plan, "So Eleanor what was that about powers?"

The blonde looked at me instantly, "Oh yes," she cleared her throat, "Well your highness every person born in Lenox has a power of some sort. The powers can be anything at all, but they sometimes have a tendency to follow a family pattern. For example, Axel has his father's super strength, but he also has an invulnerability power that no one else in his family had."

I took in her words slowly. This world seemed to be full of mutants. All you would have to do is throw in a few humans and it would be the exact opposite of Earth. My wondering about the mutants in this world was cut short as I suddenly realized that I had no idea what _Alexandria's_ powers were. For all I knew she could be a fire breather! I felt disadvantaged since knowing little about the princess would probably catch up to me and bite me in the ass. My eyes looked to Jude desperate for some information on the princess.

Jude seemed to be over our spat because he worked some information into the conversation, "The Lenox are an exception to the rules though. Aren't they Eleanor?"

Eleanor nodded her head and let her eyes glance over each of our face as she explained, "Yes. They are one of the exceptions."

"Why are they an exception?" I looked at Eleanor as the woman thought about how to phrase a response.

"Well, imagine you have a set of parents. And they have three biological children."

"Okay."

"If the three children are from the Lenox reign two will have random powers and one will always be a mimic."

"A mimic?" The term sounded strange to my ears. I could picture someone having the ability to fly, teleport, or something else, but not mimic. What was the power? Sounded like what you would call a mime with superpowers.

Eleanor nodded her head, "That is why the Lenox are so powerful and rule the planet. They are descended from a long line of mimics that can copy the abilities of any mutant and recall them in battle. The great mimics in the past have even been able to surpass the person they copied the original power from." Eleanor seemed to enjoy telling the greatness of the past Lenox line since she started talking at a faster pace, "And every generation since the first Lenox generation has given birth to only one mimic. That is the child who is the heir to the throne and the future peacekeeper of Lenox."

So this Alexandria chick had every power on the planet?! I had like three! There was no way they would buy that I was the princess for long. "Wow…" I mumbled out a response and felt my stomach churn in a nervous way. This princess charade was starting to give me an ulcer.

"By this point you must have a large amount of powers at your dispense your majesty."

I swallowed hard and placed my hand on the island so quickly it knocked my fork off. "I'll get it." I proclaimed glad to have a chance to get out of the question. "No. I can get it princess." Eleanor bent down just as I did to reach for the fork.

The next event seemed to play out like a bad rerun. Eleanor reached, I backed up, and she touched the small bit of my skin showing on accident. The absorption power started to kick in immediately and sent both of us into painful gasps.

The next thing I was aware of was a pair of warm arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me away from Eleanor. As soon as our bodies were out of contact I felt the rush of memories stop and leave me alone for once. The arms around me held me in a comforting grasp as their owner whispered calming words into my ear.

I looked to the floor and saw Eleanor sitting up next to a worried looking Axel who was fawning over her. She looked weary, but she was conscious. I couldn't look her in the eyes since the guilt was already burning through my body and mind like a forest fire. The arms around me turned me around and held me against a muscular chest that seemed to fit my body perfectly.

"Is she okay?" The chest hummed slightly as the man holding me spoke up. I recognized the voice as Jude's, but I didn't try to pull away since my main concern was on finding out how Eleanor was doing.

"Yes, she'll be okay." Axel spoke up and I could hear the worry in his voice.

"She..." Eleanor's voice started up despite the worried Axel trying to shush her into resting, "She's st…still at…skin…. ab…absorption?"

Jude's chest hummed again as he answered the woman, "Yes. She wasn't trained by a professional so she probably hasn't reached the level most mimics would have by this age." Jude rubbed my back softly and for some reason I couldn't find it in me to fight him off. "Axel," the boy spoke up again in a more serious voice, "Why don't you take Eleanor to the medical area?"

"Yes sir." Axel responded and headed out of the kitchen with Eleanor in his large arms. The woman locked eyes with me for a moment as she was being carried out, and did something I couldn't understand at all. Eleanor smiled at me and actually looked at **me** with worry! Didn't she know I could have killed her?! Why wasn't she ticked off at me?!

Jude held me for a while longer as I tried to grasp the older woman's strange actions. After a few minutes of silence he held me away from him at arm's length, "Rogue?" I looked into his blue-green eyes for a moment or two, and then forced myself to move out of his grasp. If I was going to walk away with any dignity from this fiasco I would have to look strong in front of Jude. There was no way I was going to let him get the upper hand and see me vulnerable. I knew better then to look weak in front of a business partner of any sort.

"I'm fine." I crossed my arms in front of my chest and kept my eyes off of him.

The boy didn't push me, but he did watch me with worried eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"That this princess chick has a ton of powers."

"Well let's just say I was hoping to find a better time to explain everything to you then in the kitchen and in front of an uninformed witness."

I shook my head somewhat, "I don't care Jude." My body leaned against the counter and I stared at the floor feeling angry and worried.

Jude let out a sigh and put a hand under my chin so he could softly pull my face up. I looked up, but swatted his hand away quickly. "Rogue she is going to be okay. I promise you that."

"I know that." I sighed and rubbed my temples as a headache started to come to me, "But I also know what happens once people discover my _gift_."

Jude wrapped an arm around my shoulders, but I shrugged it off. The determined boy stayed by my side though as he started to try and explain a few things, "Rogue you are not the first one to absorb someone here."

"What?"

"That's one of the reasons I'm starting to believe that you are the true princess." Jude looked down at my eyes and for the first time spoke to me without sugar coating his words, "Every mimic has the skin absorption defense when they are born. It is the only way that they can get powers when they are that young. The mimic keeps this ability with no control over it, until they are about six years old. Until that age the only skin contact they can have is with their own family members and their uh... betrothed, since the power does not affect them. After the absorption power disappears the mimic will be trained to focus all the powers they have stored so far."

I watched Jude in silence as he tried to explain so many concepts to me. The boy seemed truly concerned about how I was taking things, since he paused and stared down at me with worry. "What else?" I asked softly.

"Well the mimic will usually have few if any powers in their memory, so he or she is mainly taught fighting like martial arts and such. Then around the age of sixteen the powers come back and the mimic begins harder training so they can not only control their returning absorption power, but so they can also control hundreds of other powers their body will take on by just sight."

Jude went quiet then and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the information. So these mimics were so powerful they could copy a power just by seeing it in action. No wonder they were the rulers of Lenox. They could fight off any enemy that came at them with an opposite power. But, that wasn't me. All I could do was absorb memories and powers. There was no way that I could use them. Unless the voices in my head gained control again…

Jude watched me shiver as the negative memories flooded my mind. "Rogue?" He placed an arm around my shoulder and hugged me to his side softly.

"What happened?!" A hiss like whisper alerted me to the fact we were no longer alone in the room. Jude pushed me slightly behind him as he turned to face the newcomer. I peaked around him curiously and saw a very angry looking Griffin standing in a stiff pose at the door of the kitchen. The skeleton man's gold eyes seemed to glare into mine as he spotted me behind Jude.

"Why did you absorb one of our strongest guards?" Griffin glared at me with his angry eyes ablaze. The man hadn't been to keen on the idea of me taking the princess role until they could find out if I actually was Alexandria. In fact he had tried to forbid the charade, but Jude outranked him and had ordered the man to obey the plan. Now that he knew there was a chance I wasn't the princess, he was less then polite in private. Of course he did keep any negative comments to the rare times that Axel left my side. I guess even the bitter old man had enough common sense not to tick off Axel.

"I didn't do it on purpose." I tried to defend myself by walking out of Jude's shadow and into the middle of the boys.

"I wouldn't expect the truth from a pretend princess." He looked down at me with a frown, "So I'm not surprised you chose to lie."

Jude furrowed his brow and stared at the man, "That is enough Griffin." The boy's voice was so powerful that even I was taken aback. I looked up to see Jude's face constricted in a look of anger and authority. He stood next to me and stared at Griffin, "Whether or not she is the real princess I expect you to show her respect." He glared harder at Griffin until the man looked at me and offered an apology for his words. Personally, I had never been a fan of letting other people fight my battles, but Jude looked so intense at the moment I couldn't bring myself to stop him.

"Now," Jude spoke up again, "What happened today was an accident. Rogue still has the absorption power by skin contact and has not learned to control it yet."

Griffin looked at me for a moment then looked at Jude's serious eyes, "Yes sir." Anyone could see in his eyes that having to succumb to Jude's wishes was painful. The man would probably have enjoyed snapping Jude's neck right then and there. But, Jude didn't seem fazed at all as he spoke once more, "Now I want you to make sure that Lady Eleanor gets anything she wishes and that she is kept comfortable. And while you oversee that, the princess and I are going to leave to buy her some new clothes."

Griffin forced a nod and added a quick, "Yes sir. I understand." Before excusing himself out of the room.

Jude's posture relaxed once Griffin was gone and he watched me with playful eyes once again. I couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle, "Damn. You are scary when you go into Prince Jude mode." Jude gave me a soft smile, but said nothing in response.


	16. Always Read the Fine Print

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers! I appreciate you guys a great deal. **

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Jude and I tried to convince Axel to stay behind and keep Eleanor company, but when he heard that I would be in the public with only a single guard and Jude to 'protect' me, the boy demanded that he accompany us to town. Neither Jude nor I wanted to get on Axel's bad side, so we had agreed and watched in confusion as the giant man walked gleefully down the hall and towards the front door of the castle.

At the moment though, Jude had wandered off to grab something inside so Axel and I were left to ourselves. "You know," I rubbed my arm softly and looked at my feet for a moment before looking up at Axel, "I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean for that to happ-"

"It's alright." Axel smiled softly at me and laid a hand on my shoulder, "Eleanor and I understand that you are still getting used to your powers."

I watched the boy curiously since his tone seemed almost day dreamy when he mentioned the girl's name. "So when are you going to ask her out?" I couldn't help but ask since the large man was really a giant teddy bear on the inside.

"What?" He asked a bit embarrassed.

"Well I noticed that she seemed to stare at ya a lot, and she seems to really like your company."

"You think she likes me?"

"I think you'll never know unless you ask her big guy."

Axel smiled at me and seemed to catch the drift. "I'll remember that." He grinned then picked me up and gave me a tight hug.

"Ugh…" I groaned and tried to wiggle out of his grasp, "Can't breathe Ax."

The boy let me go quickly and I took a few deep breaths. "Sorry about that. Forget my own strength sometimes."

I laughed softly, "I know. Happens to me too."

Our conversation ended as a large vehicle pulled up into the castle's large stone driveway. I had no idea what type the car was, but I figured it was a special Lenox one since the brand name was not one I had ever seen on Earth. "This thing is huge…" I examined the car closely and found the inside looked like the backseat of an Escalade, if the back seats had been switched so they were facing each other. As I climbed inside the vehicle I grabbed a seat that would let me face the same direction as the driver in the front would face. Out of habit my hands grasped the seat belt and snapped it around myself. There really was no reason for me to wear one since I was practically indestructible, but I figured it looked less conspicuous when I went out in public to wear one.

Axel climbed into the car next and took a seat on the opposite side of me. That was apparently too much weight for the car to handle though. The black vehicle let out a squeak like noise and suddenly lifted my side higher. As I looked down at Axel, who thought it was somewhat funny I was literally hanging from my seatbelt, I could tell the giant man had turned the car into a teeter totter.

"Here," the guard that had been assigned to escort Jude and I climbed into the car and sat beside me to try and fix the weight balance. My side moved a fraction, but the wheels still didn't touch the ground. "Man." The guard shook his head and looked to Axel, "I thought you were on a diet Ax."

"This is all muscle weight." Axel defended himself quickly and leaned back in his seat, which made our side rise higher.

The guard rolled his eyes and looked to the door we had left open as Jude stuck his head into the car. "What is going on here?" He looked at the guard and me sitting up on the raised side, and then glanced to the slightly embarrassed Axel. Jude sighed and with a great deal of care, climbed up to the seat next to mine. The added weight shifted our side a little more, but in order to get the wheels to touch the ground the guard had to hold a twenty pound weight in his lap. From the glare he had given Axel when the weight was given to him, I could tell he would make sure Ax stuck to a diet from now on.

The ride into town was pretty smooth and calm. Jude played tour guide for me and pointed out different locations and their history as we drove towards the major town. Apparently the castle was positioned a few miles outside of the largest city in the Lenox Dimension. "It's named after the first mimic." Jude pointed to the town's welcome sign so I could look at the decorative sign.

"Welcome to Kurt." I read the sign out loud and couldn't help but laugh some to myself. So the first mimic ever in Lenox was named Kurt. I'd have to remember that for a later day. It would be rather interesting to find out how Kurt would feel if he knew his name was a town. I felt a bit of sadness creep into my mind slowly, as I realized I wouldn't get to tell Kurt that. I wasn't sure how I had avoided it until this moment, but somehow I found myself starting to miss life at the mansion.

Jude tapped my shoulder softly as the car came to a slow stop, "You ready to go?"

I forced my sadness away and tried to look confident, "Sure."

The driver walked to the backseat door and opened it swiftly for everyone in the backseat. Axel climbed out first and was followed by Jude, then me, and finally our weighted guard stepped out of the car. A rush of people crowded around our car and seemed to find us a rather fascinating attraction. I figured this is what it must be like to be a celebrity since everywhere I turned someone was hollering or snapping a picture with a very bright camera flash. Our two guards kept the crowd away, and left Jude free to hold my hand and lead me into a fancy looking shop. I pulled my hand away from his once we were inside the store since outside a large amount of girls were squealing that we were a cute couple.

"Remember," Jude whispered into my ear, "Here you are Alexandria."

I nodded my head and looked up at a sales clerk that approached us with a wide smile. "Your majesty." The woman gave me a long curtsy, then motioned for her staff to do so as well, "How can we be of assistance today?"

I watched the woman in disbelief as Jude spoke up, "The Princess needs a few new outfits. And she will need a few dresses as well so you might need to take measurements." Jude's ease with the sales woman seemed strange to me. I couldn't think of any other guy I had ever met who would be that comfortable telling a women's clothing designer what to do.

The woman smiled at the two of us and seemed to think dressing me up was the best idea ever. "Yes, yes, yes." She smiled and started to tilt her head so she could look at me in different angles, "I can see it now your highness. We can create you fabulous gowns that will be just as individual as your amazing hair."

I blinked and fingered one of my white streaks gently. Who knew something like white hair could be a fashion in this dimension? The woman cut my wondering short by walking around me and starting to push me towards a tall stool of sorts. After a bit of coaxing by the designer I climbed onto the stool and watched as the woman started to measure me for what I guessed was going to be a designer gown.

Jude watched me with an amused face and laughed a little bit as I stayed nervously still on the stool. The owner babbled on and on about what a great gown this would be, but all I paid attention to was the crowd of onlookers filming and waving at me and Jude from the store's front windows. "They never leave do they?" I stared at the onlookers with a curious set of eyes and saw a guy or two wink at me. Axel growled softly, proving he had seen the men as well, "I'll close the blinds." I watched Axel storm over to the window and shut the blinds, much to the dismay of the crowd outside.

"Alright," the store owner smiled at me and helped me off of the stool, "Now, I think green is definitely your color so let's try something a bit more regal." Without another word the lady motioned me over to the other side of the store and began to put me through a long game of dress up. The game had not been so bad, until the lady started to hand me ball gowns. And one gown in particular seemed a little too showy for my taste.

"Come on out princess." The saleswoman called to me from the other side of the dressing room door.

"Ah don't think so."

"Lexie, I'm sure the gown looks fine." Jude piped up this time using a nickname I wasn't aware Alexandria had.

"Easy for you to say." I grumbled out to the impatient people waiting for me to walk out of the dressing room.

I could hear Jude sigh outside before he spoke once more, "Either you come out or I go in."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Believe me," Jude scoffed, "I think I've proven I would."

My mind thought back to the angry prince attitude he had shown only a few minutes earlier. There had been a look in his aqua green eyes that I really didn't want to see focused on me. "Fine." I grumbled and started to open the dressing room door, "But if you laugh, I cannot be held responsible for my actions."

Jude didn't respond verbally, but he did look me over when I walked out of the dressing room. Heck, both guards and even the sales lady had their eyes fixated on me. It was rather unsettling so I started back to the dressing room, but Jude stopped me by placing a hand on my wrist, "You need to see it in the mirror." The smile on his face was genuine enough that even I had to believe he wasn't trying to pull a trick on me.

"Alright." I sighed and let the boy lead me over to the mirrors.

As I stood in front of the mirrors, I couldn't help but find myself in a state of surprise. The dark green dress was rather beautiful. The length went to the top of my knees and seemed to be made of a fabric that would twirl with each movement of my body. The top portion of the dress was separated by a thin black ribbon that wrapped around my body just below my bust. I fingered the black spaghetti straps holding the dress up as I stared in wonder at the gown in the mirror. The dress was beautiful, but for some reason I couldn't get over the strange feeling it gave me to show that much skin.

"It's lovely on you!" The sales woman grinned widely and motioned for me to spin around. I took the command and watched the world around me as I spun slowly. The dress moved in the wind I created and seemed to give my lower body the look of a green flower. Jude smiled at me in the dress and walked closer to me, "So what do you think?"

"I think it's nice." I let my hands run over the smooth fabric for a while then added, "But maybe it is a little extravagant…"

"No way." Jude smiled at me and in spite of myself I couldn't help but find the grin sweet, "It makes you look like the princess I know you are."

Axel smiled and gave me a thumb up as the other guard nodded his head and simply stated, "It is a lovely gown your highness."

I looked away from the boys and stared into the mirror trying to see what they all swore was there. But, when I looked into the reflective glass I couldn't see the same thing as the others. All I saw was Rogue, the untouchable, in a dress that she would never have been able to afford or for that matter wear back on Earth. What was it the others saw in the mirror anyway? They must see this Alexandria girl. But I couldn't see anything but myself in the mirror.

Somehow in the time it took me to get dressed in my original clothes, Jude had purchased almost every outfit I had tried on. And unfortunately that included the green dress, which he swore up and down was the best piece in the whole ensemble. At least I had been able to get the boy to promise I would only have to wear it on a rare occasion. That was the biggest victory I was able to get while pretending to be Alexandria.

The funny thing about shopping with Jude and the guards was how quickly it made the time pass. Even though we were followed by mobs of crowds wherever we went, the boys somehow managed to make the trip enjoyable. I hadn't even noticed that we had been shopping for a few hours until Jude mentioned that we should stop for lunch.

"Lunch?" I looked at him curiously.

"Well it is twelve thirty already." Jude said glancing at a digital watch on his wrist.

"Lunch sounds good to me." Axel piped up and rubbed his growling stomach. The other guard looked at Axel with an interested face, "This would be the perfect time to start your diet too." Axel groaned loudly and gave another hilarious look of disgust. Jude and I laughed softly while the other guard patted Ax's shoulder, "Sorry bud, but you tipped a car today. I think it's time."

Axel groaned the whole way to the small café Jude said would be a perfect lunch choice. I never really noticed what Axel's grumbles were about though, because I was too busy signing autographs for our constant parade of followers. At first I had been too overwhelmed to even look at the crowd that was always standing behind us, but after a while even I had grown used to being followed around as we shopped. The only worry I had in the back of my mind, was that I would accidently misspell the princess' name on the books and papers they held out to me to sign. With my luck it would be something small like that, that would show the world I was a fake.

By the time we had been seated in the café I thought my hand was going to be permanently frozen in a writing position. "I didn't realize there would be such a crowd." I mumbled softly and glanced at my menu while Jude chuckled softly. "The Lenox are the **highest** power. People adore them to no end."

"I don't get why though." In my mind it seemed like the Lenox would have become tyrants long ago. They had ultimate power and yet they spent all their time working to help the people of Lenox. They must have been some kind of saint…

"The first Lenox drove away the largest threat this dimension has ever seen. After that the people proclaimed him King. And, ever since that day there has always been a mimic in charge of Lenox. Just in case the danger ever comes back."

"What danger?"

Jude opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped as he looked up to see a waitress smiling at our table. The woman, like all the others before her, asked for my autograph. By this point, I was starting to think I had set a record for overnight popularity. I had been in this place for about three days, counting today, and the people were already going crazy. These people sure must love the so called mimics. After I gave her my autograph the lady took our orders and rushed off to grab our food. I wanted to know more about this danger that Jude had hinted at, but people kept coming up to us wanting pictures and to say thank you. I had no idea what they were thanking me for, but I tried to act as princess-like as I could manage.

Luckily the crowd gave us a moment or two of peace and quiet once our food arrived. After being surrounded by so many 'fans' screaming and talking on and on, I greatly appreciated having a calm meal. In fact the only noise at our table was Axel's low grumbles as he picked at the salad the other guard had ordered him. I felt bad for the boy and took the chance to sneak him fries from my meal when the guard wasn't watching. Watching Axel practically swallow the fries whole was rather interesting. The boy acted like he hadn't had a decent meal in ages.

After lunch Jude started our group back on the hunt of items that I might need. But, since every member of our company had at least two bags in their hands I figured there was little left for me to buy. Hell, we had already bought more clothes then my closet at the mansion had inside it. "Jude I think we got enough stuff." I sighed and stopped walking so I could lean on the outside wall of a store.

"Are you sure?" Jude looked at the bags with a curious face.

"This is more clothes then anyone will ever need. Royalty or commoner." I had to remind myself to say things only a princess would. It was odd how every time I was going to mention Earth, my teeth clenched down on my tongue as if they were telling me to shut up.

"Well, if you are sure." Jude began to look at the various bags again, but I didn't pay attention. There was something much more interesting across the street and down a ways, in what looked like a large field outlined by a bright white line. I could see a large crowd of people gathered in a large set of stands. It reminded me of a soccer field in a way. "What's that?" I pointed to the field and Jude glanced with a bit of a smirk, "That's the power field. It's a kind of competition ground for people."

"Competition? Like a sparring match kind of thing?"

"Yea. People go up against each other and use their powers and skills to try and defeat their opponent. Kurt is famous for having the most power fields in Lenox. Most towns have only one, but Kurt has five."

"Wow." I stared at the fight and grew a large grin, "I gotta see that."

"We can stop by later." Jude set his bags onto the ground and looked at me, "How about we get you a… What are you doing?!"

Jude gave me a surprised look as I floated above the ground with a smile, "I'm going to go check out the spar match. I'll be right back." I gave the boys a little salute and flew off towards the event. Jude and Axel hollered for me to come back, but I ignored it. I just wanted to look at the place, it's not like I would get hurt. Besides I was supposed to be mingling with the people, and the people were at the power field.

Once I landed on the edge of the power field I could see that the place was a lot larger up-close. There were rowdy fans in the stands and various competitors of all different builds stretching on the sidelines. The place kind of reminded me of a danger room, but with an audience. Seemed like my kind of event at least. And as far as I could figure this Alex girl was known for having powers so why not try a round? It would be a great stress reliever after everything that happened in the past days.

There was a small table over by the other side of the field that had a sign labeling it as the check in point. There was no one at the booth, but I figured there had to be a sign up sheet. I flew across the field with ease and looked at the table's list of competitors. There was already a match for each competitor, which made me a little disappointed. Where was I going to find someone to spar with?

"If you're done looking at the form, the winner needs to sign up." I turned around and saw a man that was no more than an inch taller than me. He had blue hair that was slicked back into a spiky hairstyle. The boy watched me with a confident gaze in his dark grey eyes.

"Pretty confident in yourself aren't you?" I handed him the sheet.

"Confident?" He laughed at me and signed the sheet, "I'm more than just confident. I can beat anyone stupid enough to sign up against me." The boy puffed out his chest so he looked more macho and stared into my eyes.

The kid seemed too cocky for his own good. I was more than happy to have the chance to beat his ass and teach him some modesty. The kid looked like he hadn't even lifted weights before. It would be an easy victory for sure. "Well, I'm just stupid enough to take you on." I gave him a serious look and waited for a response.

"You shouldn't do that." He stared me down trying to use his one extra inch of height as leverage.

"Why not? You afraid I'll whip you in front of your friends?"

"A little girl like you ought to know how to stay out of a real competitor's way."

I furrowed my brow and grabbed the sheet, "Is that how you see it?" I started to write Alexandria's name on the list, "Fine. I'll beat you're as-"

"Princess!" Jude's voice caught up with me first as he approached the boy and I quickly. He stood by me and seemed to be looking over my body for damage. Why Jude seemed to think I would hurt myself if he or Axel weren't by my side twenty four seven I didn't know. What I did know, was I had taken care of myself long enough to be able to take on my own fights.

"You're the princess?" The blue haired boy seemed to find that information quite funny since he started to chuckle under his breath.

"So what? I can beat you either way." I informed the boy and felt Jude wrap his arm around my waist as if he thought I was going to punch the kid out right there.

"No you can't." The kid laughed at me and gave me a look that seemed to say I was some kind of idiot.

"Oh yea?!" I growled at him in a harsh tone.

"Yea. Lenox's are not allowed to compete in power fields unless they are up against another Lenox."

"What?" I groaned and turned my head to Jude, "You never told me that."

Jude sighed and nodded his head, "Because you would be upset."

"Damn right, I am."

The blue haired jerk laughed softly under his breath and watched me with an interested expression, "Looks like you will have someone in the ring though."

"What do you mean?" I tried to scare the twerp by giving him an angry face.

"I mean," He laughed in my face, "You already signed a form that mandates someone plays for you. And, since you are a Lenox heir that responsibility falls to your betrothed." The boy laughed somewhat and walked off the court, "Good luck losing, your majesty."

I growled at the little twerp, but remained stationary since Axel was now holding me back. What I would have given to just give that boy a good kick across the field. Axel sighed softly and held me under one of his arms while I struggled to get out of his grasp and attack the kid. "You're going to make a scene your majesty." Axel whispered the words to me softly and for the first time since the blue kid first started to talk to me, I remembered that we were in public. My body calmed down and Axel set me back on the ground, but kept a hand on my shoulder in case I tried to take off.

Jude was studying the form that I had signed my name to with a look of annoyance. I figured he wasn't too excited about having to go in the ring and fight the twerp. As I tried to picture Jude in a fight, I realized that I had never seen him fight before. I didn't even know what his powers were! "Jude?" I watched him with a worried face, "You sure that I can't take this one?"

"You might as well have signed my name to the form instead of yours." He placed the sheet down and looked to me, "Now we are stuck in this agreement."

"Crap…" I sighed and tried to think of some way to make sure the blue jerk didn't kill Jude in the fight.


	17. Never Mix Fights and Feelings

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you to all of my readers and a special shout out to my reviewers! I love hearing from you guys, so feel free to comment and review.  
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**And I have added some songs that have been flowing through my mind while writing this story to my profile. They might not make sense with the story, but they are just the songs I listen to while writing the story. ^ ^ (Random bit of info, no? Hehehe)  
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As the matches started in the large field, Jude and the rest of our group waited behind the giant metal stands. Jude hadn't spoken to any of us since we left the sign up table. Axel had tried to get him to talk to us, but the boy ignored it and focused on stretching out his muscles. The silence was starting to get rather annoying, since the guards kept looking between Jude and me. It seemed like they were waiting for one of us to crack.

"Look," I finally stared at Jude who was stretching his arms out, "I'm sorry ok? If there was a way for me to take the fight myself I'd do it."

Jude scoffed and rolled his eyes, "That's helpful now."

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know Lenox couldn't fight? It's not like you volunteered that information!"

"Oh, well excuse me," Jude growled and looked down at me as we stood face to face, "I had this crazy idea that you would stay with us and wait for me to explain the rules when we got there!"

"You can't blame me for wanting to go!"

"Why not?"

"You're the one who wanted to trap me in another damn clothes store!"

"You need clothes!" Jude yelled in an exasperated voice, "Don't you get the fact that you have nothing to wear?!"

"No one needs that many clothes!"

"What do you want me to say?!" Jude grumbled his words out with as much annoyance as me, "Thanks for running off and getting me stuck in this damn fight!"

"I didn't get you stuck! I'm more than willing to fight the brat!"

"But you can't. And now I have too!" Jude gave me a rather annoyed look, "How is it that you always get yourself and everyone around you in trouble?!"

"I didn't need you following me around like some damn babysitter!"

"Oh yea!" Jude forced a hard laugh, "You've really proven that so far! Running into trees, getting pursued as a thief, destroying part of a roof, and everything else. It's a wonder you've survived this long!"

"At least I live my life!"

"No, you spend your life picking so many damn fights and trying to act like such a loner that you can't see what opportunities you have!"

"Well you're the one with your head stuck in the sand! Your wound up so tight I'm surprised you haven't exploded yet!"

Axel leaned over to our other guard and whispered, "I can see why they are engaged."

"Stay out of this!"

"Stay out of this!" Jude and I yelled at the guards in unison.

"Stop that!!"

"Stop that!!" We both turned face to face again and growled out the words.

"Don't copy me!"

"Don't copy me!" After the last yell in accidental unison, Jude and I turned away from each other and grumbled under our breaths.

The area was quiet while Jude and I fumed. Why did the guy have to be so stubborn?! It was like trying to reason with a brick wall. And how the hell did he get the right to tell me what I act like!? He's known me for three days; he has no idea who I am!

A loud announcement came over the field and broke the feud, "Alright folks, our next match will start in five minutes. It's going to be a real treat that is for sure! One of our highest ranking competitors, Jack Garrett," applause broke out in the stands housing hundreds of spectators, "will be facing none other than Prince Judah Kingston!" A large burst of yelling and clapping spread through the audience. The announcer waited for the noise to die down before he spoke again, "As you know Prince Judah has rarely competed in a power match, so this is certainly going to be an awesome sparring."

Though excitement spread throughout the arena, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. If Jude hadn't competed in this type of event before what was the chance he would win? The blue haired brat might actually have a chance at beating Jude. I felt a wave of guilt come over me as I pictured Jude being beat in the arena. As annoying as he was, I couldn't bear the thought of watching him get hurt.

"Jude?" I turned to look at him and found he was still stretching out.

"What?" The boy didn't look at me once.

"Well, just…" I tried to think of something to say that would be caring and yet not sappy enough to make him think I really cared. After a few minutes of thinking I simply blurted, "Don't get hurt."

The young man looked at me with a curious face then. He stood up and walked closer to me, "What?"

I sighed hating to have to repeat the remark, "Don't get hurt."

Jude seemed to stare at my face for an eternity, and then simply patted my shoulder, "I'll try my best."

The boy gave me a small cocky smile then turned and walked off to the competitors waiting area. I watched him walk away, until he turned the corner of the stands and disappeared out of my sight. Everything seemed so strange to me at the moment. On one hand I wanted to choke him myself, and on the other hand I felt the strangest urge to choke anyone who tried to hurt Jude. What kind of twisted logic was that? Why couldn't Jude just come to me as a normal emotion? I would have preferred the chance to just hate Jude and never want to see him again, but I knew that it was impossible. Somehow, without my knowledge, the dang prince had worked his way into my mind. And there was no way I could rip myself away now… Damn it.

One of the perks of being a princess was getting to sit in a special set of seats. I figured it was the kind of thing the rich people always sat in at baseball games back on Earth. Inside our seating area there were some recliners and a buffet of food. Of course, the other guard wouldn't let poor Axel have anything but the veggie tray. Axel had offered me some of his cut up vegetables, but my stomach was too twisted with a mix of worry and anger to hold down any food.

"He will be fine." Axel sat in a chair beside mine and gave me a caring look, "Jude isn't as weak as you seem to think he is."

"I guess…" I mumbled the words out then turned my attention to the center ring as Jude entered on one side of the giant field and Jack, the blue haired brat, entered on the other side. The announcer turned on his speaker loudly and began to announce the matchup, "Alright folks it's the moment we have all been waiting for!" The crowd cheered and Jack made a few muscle poses, while Jude merely stood still.

"You boys know the rules," The announcer directed his comment towards the two competitors, "First one either knocked out cold or thrown out of the ring loses." I bit my lip as the announcer began his count down to the start of the match, "Start in three, two, one, Fight!"

Jude stared down Jack and vice versa. Neither boy made a move for a moment, until suddenly Jack shot out what looked like a large covering of ice onto the field. The boy grew a sickening grin as his eyes took on a strange ice blue haze and he started to be lifted up from the ground on a tower of ice. I stared at the tower in surprise as it grew larger by the moment. Just my staring seemed to be more productive then Jude's current method of just standing still and watching Jack build an ice tower.

"What the hell is he doing?" I stood up from my seat and felt Axel's arm go around me. "Axel, let go!"

"Sorry your majesty," The guard gave me a serious face, "But I know you have a tendency to… well fly off the handle."

I was about to argue the fact that I had self control when Jack's tower stopped growing. My eyes scanned the jagged ice fixture for a sign of attack, but I couldn't figure it out. The sculpture looked like it couldn't have been much defense unless he expected Jude to walk up and impale himself on it. Jack's sickening smile grew as he slowly moved his hands in a circular fashion, causing them to grow brighter as if they had been covered in a light ball.

"What the heck is he doin-" My words stopped in mid-sentence as Jack stopped his circle motions and slammed his hands together with a great deal of force.

The ice tower suddenly broke into thousands of jagged shards. A few of the shards flew into the stands and caused the over excited audience to duck and then cheer loudly. But most of the shards were now hurdling towards the still non-moving Jude with different speeds. My body jerked out of reflex to go save Jude from being turned into a Swiss cheese corpse, but Axel held me to my seat. Jude was still calm and cool as the ice shards grew closer to his body. In fact, it wasn't until the shards were less than a foot away that he moved his left hand up as if signaling someone to stand on their feet.

No more than a second after Jude's small gesture passed, a giant rock like substance shot up from the ground and took the full brunt of the shards piercing attack. Once the shards had all collided into the rock Jude made an opposite hand gesture that sent the rock and the embedded shards down into the ground once again. The crowd cheered and whistled loudly after watching Jude use so much power with so little effort. I couldn't find the ability to speak as I stared down at a confident and even _bored_ looking Jude.

Jack furrowed his brow in anger and used the ice still coating most of the field as a speed boost. The jerk skated around with amazing speed and shot out hundreds of spikes at Jude once more. The crowd yelled and cheered for their hopeful winner and Jude stood still. I couldn't believe that he would be lucky enough to get away from so many shards of jagged ice again. So, with Axel still using his own super strength to keep me in my seat, I started to yell at Jude, "You have to defend yourself! You have to move Jude!!" Jude probably couldn't hear me from the stands, but the boy did start to move at last. He countered each turn the ice brat made and raised up wall after wall of rock. Each time Jack threw a shard at Jude it would meet a blunt rock and do no good.

After a while Jack started to realize his initial tricks were not going to fly when it came to Jude. Surprisingly he stopped in the middle of the field and grew a serious look in his eyes. The orbs were changing color from an ice blue color to a neon blue, as the glare continued to grow angrier. At first it seemed like Jack was merely wasting time with hollow threats, but after a moment or two Jude started to groan and hold his head in pain.

The entire crowd gasped and watched in shock as Jude fought with what looked like a growing migraine. The boy let out a louder sound of pain and my body tried once more to shot towards the field, but Axel held me even tighter in his arms. Jack found Jude's pain rather entertaining, which he proved by spending a few moments laughing at the boy's pain before continuing his devilish attack. Without a word of warning Jack shot forward on an ice path he made with each step towards his prey.

Jude grunted in pain but stuck out a hand to bring up a weak looking rock defense. The poor try at defense made the attack worse, since Jack hit the rock with an ice covered fist and shattered through. The shards of rock hit Jude's body with a great deal of force as did a few bits of ice. The force of the hit was so powerful that Jude's body flew a foot back.

"Jude!" I had no control over my body by this point. All I could feel were murderous intentions flowing through my body. The scary thing was that I knew there was no way I could let Jack walk off that field alive if he actually hurt Jude. "Jude!" I yelled down to the field desperately since the boy was still lying amongst the ruble, "Jude you have to get up! He's out for blood! You can't let him win!!"

I wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but Jude's eyes opened only seconds after I yelled at him from my box seat. Jack laughed and used his ice power to head high into the sky and then shoot back down as if he was on a water slide. On the end of his extended fist were shards of ice he was saving for what I feared would be the kill.

Jude was still groaning and holding his head with one hand, but he used his other free hand to face Jack's on coming attack. I watched in curiosity as Jude flexed his fingers quickly and stared at the ice heading towards him. The move seemed a bit strange to me until a loud crack was heard throughout the field. The crack noise continued to grow in volume as Jude focused harder on the ice supporting Jack.

Then in one swift move, there was no more ice on the field.

Jack's ice ride burst at the seams, so to say, and fell to the grass covered ground as regular water. The ice brat was unprepared, as usual, so he fell onto the ground with a loud thud that made most of the audience members shiver as if they could feel his pain. Jude ignored the down fallen Jack, and focused on breaking the rest of the ice with his hands. Once the field looked like marsh land, Jude's hand movements changed into quick, palm outward, circles. I noticed his head seemed to have stopped hurting, and figured that was good enough proof to blame Jack for his earlier pain. The water covering the field started to move in a circular motion as if Jude was telling it exactly what to do.

As Jude moved his hand's quicker, the water started to spin in a tornado like shape. The crowd had fallen into a shocked silence as the water storm started to grow larger until it had every drop of water from the field. Jude let the full tornado spin a few more times in front of him, then with a great push sent it forward to capture Jack who was barely crawling out of his hole in the ground.

Immediately, Jack was swept up into the quick paced water tornado. Jude moved his hands at an even quicker rate and let the dizzy boy take a long ride on the water. Jack put out a little effort to try and freeze the water, but every time he got close Jude would make the tornado shake and throw the kid off balance. By the time Jack tired out from trying to catch his breath through the water spin, there were miss-thrown shards of ice melting all over the field. Jude waited until Jack stopped putting up any form of a fight, and then proceeded to send him and the water swirl to the opposite side of the field. Jack crashed into the stands then fell to the field floor where he began coughing up water from his lungs.

The entire arena was silent until suddenly the announcer blared out, "What a match ladies and gentlemen! I am proud to announce our winner, Prince Jude Kingston!" The crowd burst out into cheers and applause as a scuffed up Jude stood dazed in the center of the field. Axel and the other guard applauded loudly for the prince. My own hands started to clap, but stopped shortly as Jude sunk to his knees and fell on the grassy field.

Without a single opposition from Axel, I flew out of my seat and onto the field. I approached Jude quickly and kneeled beside him on the grass, "Jude?" I nudged his shoulder and the boy flopped over onto his back, "Jude?? Are you okay?"

"Never better." Jude gave me his famous mischievous grin.

"You could have gotten yourself killed out there!" I found myself scolding him and before I had even realized it, giving the stubborn boy a hug.

Jude gave a soft chuckle and hugged me back, "You said try not to get hurt. Death was never mentioned." I hugged him a little tighter then necessary and he fussed at me, "No fair. You can't use your super strength now."

"I was just reminding you." I informed him.

"Of what?"

"Of the fact that if you let yourself get killed, I would have to beat up your ghost with twice the upper body strength you'd never be able to have."

"You can't beat up a ghost." Jude laughed at me and looked into my eyes after letting me go from the hug, "Besides I thought you wanted to beat me yourself by now."

"Well sure," I nodded my head, "I can beat you up. But no one else is allowed to."

Jude chuckled loudly and leaned on my side as if he couldn't hold up his own weight, "I knew you were a big softie under the bitchy loner side."

I rolled my eyes at him and pushed him off my side, "You'll see the real bitchy side if you don't get off of me."

Jude chuckled as he sat on the field beside me, and in spite of myself I felt a smile start to grow on my face. Maybe Jude wasn't such a bad guy…


	18. Step Forward, Step Back

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers! You guys are awesome! **

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Over the next few days, Jude and I started a strange friendship. Axel informed us, whenever he got the chance, that we fought like an old married couple. The strange thing was that it worked for us. Jude kept me grounded and I kept him on his toes. It was an odd, but working relationship. But friendship or not, there was still one thing Jude seemed completely against. Training.

It was Axel who had first suggested I start mimic training like the other Lenox heirs had in the past. I had been more then thrilled at the chance to get a good fight, but Jude remained dead set against it. By my ninth day in Lenox, I was growing more than frustrated with the stubborn boy.

"Oh come on Jude! Stop being such a butt!"

"No!" Jude groaned the reply for what felt like the hundredth time and started to march down the hall.

"Fine! I'll just arrange a training session myself!"

"Over my dead body!"

"That can be arranged!"

Axel stepped between us and held up his hands to show he was neutral, "There is no reason to fight guys." The gigantic man watched Jude and I for some sort of apology, but gave up after watching me stick my tongue out at Jude. "Jude," Axel looked at him hoping to keep the peace, "Why don't you want her to start training?"

"You know exactly why!" Jude snapped at the guard then lowered his voice to a hushed whisper, before he added, "She isn't ready for that kind of training."

"The hell I'm not!" I poked Jude's chest to make sure I had his full attention, "I can take any Lenox thing you can throw at me!"

Jude opened his mouth to yell back at me, but stopped. After a few moments of thinking he stared me in the eyes, "So you think you're ready for a mimic spar match?"

"Hell yeah."

"Fine. But, if you don't win you cannot try again until I say you are ready."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. But that ain't gonna happen."Jude's face soured into what almost looked like a worried expression as Axel and I left him to get ready for the match at hand.

Two hours later Jude had brought our party which now consisted of Axel, Eleanor, and myself to a strange looking area on one side of the grand castle. The area was covered in what looked like a field of concrete. The ground's enormous space made me think it had to be some kind of basketball area for giants. Axel and Eleanor sat down on the grass at the edge of the concrete court. Eleanor made a hand gesture that looked like some type of prayer, while Axel gave me a thumb up. The excitement from Axel made sense to me, but Eleanor's nervous prayer seemed out of place. "So where is my opponent?"

Jude walked closer to me and motioned towards the woods we had just walked through, "He's on his way."

As if on cue a small child burst from the foliage Jude had pointed to, and ran quickly to us. He was a tiny thing that looked too short and too skinny to be more than nine years old at the most. An unruly patch of red hair covered his head and barely let his hazel eyes and freckled cheeks show. The child wore a wrinkled grey t-shirt and knee length camouflage shorts. As I took in the sight of the boy, he shuffled his sneaker clad feet nervously.

"Princess," Jude grinned at me and placed a hand on the child's shoulder, "Meet Bolt Miles, your opponent."

The boy gave me a bow and mumbled, "It's nice to meet you princess Alexandria."

I was stunned. This couldn't be real. What kind of sick joke was Jude trying to play?! Did he think putting a child out would make me have to forfeit? My conscious was set against fighting the little kid, "Jude what the hell are you up to?" I watched the young man testily.

"Nothing Princess." Jude's grin started to grow wider, "You said to get you an opponent so I did."

"I'm not fighting a child!"

"I'll go easy on you princess." Bolt squeaked out the words in a high pitched voice.

"What??"

"I won't use my powers as much." Bolt looked up with worry in his eyes for _me_!

"Look kid," I bent down to his level so I could look him in the eyes. "That's great and all, but I'm not fighting you cause I have a policy about not beating kids."

Bolt looked up to Jude, and Jude looked to me, "Look at it this way. You can pick whatever training you want if you win. And Bolt is willing to spar with you," the little boy nodded eagerly, "So why not go ahead and do it?"

"Fine." I snapped at Jude then walked to the opposite side of the concrete field.

Jude sent Bolt to the other side, and I cringed inwardly as the boy skipped to his place. Was this supposed to be some test of my emotions or morals? Well, I should at least give the kid a fighting chance, "Hey Bolt!"

"Yes Princess?"

"I want you to use _all_ of your power."

"Um… are you sure?"

"Positive! Come at me with everything you got."

"Okay your highness." Bolt took up a fighting stance and turned his head to watch Jude.

Jude walked off the concrete arena and stood by Axel and Eleanor. He pulled out a remote looking device, and started to push various buttons. After the last button was selected the field emitted a whoosh like noise, and became encased by large lime green barrier walls. The walls were see-through, but completely impenetrable. I looked to Jude who raised one hand into the air, then let it fall with one word, "Fight."

Before I had time to process Jude's words, a streak of red shot into my stomach and sent me flying into the lime green barrier wall behind me. The punch was slightly painful, but before I could feel the full effect a few more flashes of red hit my gut and sent me flying towards the opposite side of the arena. My stomach churned and I wondered if I would be able to stop myself from throwing up onto the floor. I looked up and saw Bolt still in his fighting stance. So the kid had speed and force on his side. Damn it.

I stood up quickly, since every moment meant something when you were against a speed demon. "So you're pretty powerful." I laughed somewhat feeling confident that I could deal with him since I knew his power. From the corner of my eye I could see Eleanor praying again. The boy grabbed my attention as he moved his arms up to the sky. I figured he was getting ready to run again so I lifted off the ground and charged him.

My charge was dead on. The boy grunted as I flew him into the wall. Since there was no time to waste, I clasped his arms in mine and flew up towards the ceiling of the green box. Bolt closed his eyes tightly and clenched his hands, which made me think he was terrified of heights or something like that. But the thought disappeared from my mind as a sudden electric shock hit my body and began to grow in force. My flight became more and more erratic as the electric charge grew in power.

We crashed into a side wall and collapsed into a pile of electric charged limbs, before Bolt sped away from me and took the shocks with him. I couldn't figure this kid out. Every time I thought I had his powers figured out, he pulled out something new. And the most aggravating thing of all was I felt more exhausted then the kid looked! This annoying thought was enough to convince my body to jump back up.

My confidence started to grow as the next few strikes Bolt made missed. I was able to dodge and turn just quick enough, to grab the back of his shirt and send him flying across the arena and into a green wall. Each time the kid crashed into the see-through walls I felt my stomach lurch. Deep down I still couldn't justify hurting a little kid.

Bolt groaned in pain as he picked himself up from the concrete that now had a deep impression of his body in it. "You're pretty good Princess." He smiled at me then suddenly closed his eyes and grew a look of concentration. No more than a minute after he closed his eyes, the red head started to multiply. There was no longer one child standing in front of me. Now there were at least ten Bolts grinning at me, "But you're not quite good enough." The ten Bolts began to race wildly in the sparing area.

"Crap." I groaned and tried to keep up with each of the shocking speed demons. It seemed like every time I was able to block about two of the Bolts' attacks, another one snuck up behind me and hit me in my blind side, which sent a shock up my spine. Part of my mind played with the idea of trying to absorb Bolt, but the constant flow of attacks and shocks made it impossible to get any of my covered skin free. Since absorption was useless, I took my next best move and flew up above the ten clones.

My body felt extremely sore and weak as if someone had drained my energy. I took a deep breath of air and felt my chest throb in pain as if something in it was cracked or broken. Whether it was the battle or something else entirely, I didn't know, but as I floated above the boys I felt like my energy was still declining. I tried to calm my sore mind and body as Bolt pulled himself back together on the arena floor. I saw the opportunity and started to dive for the boy, as he clapped his hands with a great amount of force.

Suddenly, the largest shock I had ever felt began to fill every nerve of my body. I tried to escape the continuous strike, but the kid, with a determined yet scratched up face, kept his focus solely on me till his attack hit with max force. I opened my mouth to scream, but my exhausted lungs couldn't force out a single sound. The next thing I felt was landing with a ground shaking tremor on the concrete below.

"Princess?" A worried voice entered my ears and forced my exhausted eyes to open slowly. Bolt stood above me with a terrified look on his battered face. Once again the child had worry in his eyes for only me.

I tried to push myself up.

Practically fainted. Not only could I not do it, but the effort was so excruciating that I opened my mouth to scream and couldn't breathe enough for that either. My weight settled back onto the concrete and I felt nothing but staggering agony and couldn't think connectedly until it eased. Something was odd, I figured finally. It wasn't only that I couldn't lift myself off the ground but that I was stuck to it in some way.

Jude appeared over me next, "You okay?" He reached down gently and with great care pushed a piece of hair out of my mouth. Just from laying still on the ground I could feel various throbbing wounds down my body. I could see Jude turn his head to someone out of my vision, "Take Bolt. I'll get her."

There was nothing said to me as Jude tried to gently pick me up. Each jostle from the effort sent a painful shock through my body. I bit my lip and tried my hardest to not let out a whimper or whine. Apparently the look of pain was evident on my face, since Jude leaned his head down and whispered to me, "It'll be okay Rogue. I promise." As he made the finally adjustment of my body in his arms, he started towards some direction. My head swam with thoughts that seemed to farfetched to connect into a single sentence. Since thinking about my predicament was out, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the smells and sounds of things around me. Jude's heart beat and cologne were the closest, so I focused my mind on them to try and stay conscious.

I had no idea how long Jude carried my sore body, but when he started to set me on a cold metal table I jumped back to the matter at hand. My eyes opened briefly then shut tightly as a bright light glared back at me. Though my voice, and now eyesight, had left me for the moment, my ears were busy trying to pick up every sound within the surrounding area.

"What happened?" A worried female voice came to me first and seemed to be the strongest.

"Training." I recognized Jude's voice immediately.

"Training? But I heard her level was quite low for a mimic her age. She could have gotten severely hurt."

"Believe me," I could practically see Jude roll his eyes, "I know. But either way she would have done it."

The conversation ended abruptly then as what felt like latex gloves examined the sore points of my body. In spite of myself I couldn't help but whimper as she gingerly touched one or two of the wounds. "I know dear..." The woman's voice came to me again in a soothing tone.

The gloves stopped touching my wounds a few moments later. Part of me wondered if they were just going to leave me on the metal table, until I felt a strange warmness start at my feet. The sensation reminded me of slipping into a warm bath after a hard day of training. As the warmth moved up my body I slowly felt me energy and strength come flowing back to me. After five minutes or so the pain was gone and I was able to sit up on the metal table and finally look around me.

The first person to appear in my hazy line of sight was a middle aged woman with dark brown hair and a set of green glasses perched on the end of her tiny nose. She offered me a wide smile and patted my back gently, "You should be feeling better now." I nodded softly at her remark and rubbed my tired eyes with my palms. "You might have blurry vision for a moment or two. But the rest of your body is back to working condition." The woman who I could now see was wearing a blue scrub like outfit, smiled at me and patted my calf gently with her gloved hand. "I'll go tell your friends that you feel better. Once you feel ready your highness you can leave the office and attend to the rest of your schedule."

Jude waited until the healer left the room to turn his eyes on me, "Feeling better? Ophelia is usually pretty good at quick heals."

I furrowed my brow at Jude and waited until I could see only one of him to answer with a question of my own, "Why didn't you tell me the kid was so powerful?" My voice was a bit scratchy and sounded like I was just learning to use it. I figured this was the kind of squeaks musicians had to get through when they first tried to play their instrument of choice.

"Because I know you."

"What's that supposed to mean??"

"It means I know it would be useless, since you seem to have this need to get the crap beaten out of you before you will believe anything someone tells you."

"That is not true."

"I warned you that you weren't ready. You wouldn't listen. I gave you the easiest opponent I could. You demanded something harder. The kid offered to limit his powers to give you an equal chance. You scoffed at him and ordered him to use his full power." Jude ticked off each example on his left hand, but kept his eyes staring deeply into mine. "Rogue, you are one goddamn stubborn woman."

I frowned at him and was thankful that my vision was back in case I couldn't resist the urge to smack the jerk. I disliked the fact he thought that he could tell me what kind of person I am so quickly. It was the fact that in the deepest, darkest part of my mind I could kind of see what he was saying, that I hated.

Sure, Jude thought it was so easy to just turn down a challenge and go on trying easy things. But he didn't have the kind of knowledge I did. If I admitted that I wasn't ready for regular training, I would look weak. If I looked weak then who knows what would happen! Power surges, evil personas, and whatever else the evil people in my life could come up with. There was no way I could afford to let myself look weak.

"Fuck off." I snapped at Jude and jumped down from the table. As I marched out of the little medical room I could hear Jude's footsteps behind me, "Leave me the hell alone!" I yelled at him and started to march down the hallway by myself.

Axel, Bolt, Eleanor, and even Jude stayed away from me and didn't follow my angry walk. Smart move. As much as I hated to admit it, as my emotions swirled inside my mind, I knew I'd be dangerous to them. By this point, I was ready to snap at the smallest remark.


	19. Dusty Dreams of the Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you to all of my reviewers! And also thank you to all new and current readers!**

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As my feet took me through random hallways of the giant castle, I tried to find a way to blame someone other than myself for everything that had been going wrong. I wanted to be able to just pour all of my problems on someone. I wanted for once, not to be the idiot who screwed everything up with one simple decision! But, there was nothing I could blame on anyone else. It had been my fault I got stuck in the pool issue, my fault that I blew up the science lab, my fault that I had been beat up in the woods, and my fault that I had gotten trapped in an alternate universe. It seemed like the only thing that wasn't somehow my fault was the fact I had been born in general. Then again, by now I was starting to figure that my very creation had to be one of the biggest mistakes ever made.

The hallways I passed drew my attention from sulking, since I started to notice a change in the surrounding area. The castle was normally covered in guards and council members rushing to meetings or other assignments, but now there was no one else in the hall but me. It was slightly creepy to be alone in the elegant hallway. After my first few days in Lenox I had grown comfortable with the bright colors of the castle and the easy going atmosphere. But this area of the castle had a strange mix of emotions.

As I walked further down the dark hallways, I began to feel like I was in a museum of sorts. The items decorating the hallway were immaculate and maintained in an order that looked like they hadn't been reorganized in years. And even though there wasn't a warning anywhere in sight, I still had the sneaking suspicion that touching the items in these hallways was against the rules.

I stopped in the middle of one of the hallways and looked up to a giant painting of a familiar looking couple. The names took me a little while to come up with, but after concentrating on the faces of the people they came to me. "Thomas and Lydia…" My voice echoed off the empty halls and sounded rather loud. I squinted to try and get the best look I could at the expensive portrait.

The couple was dressed in tasteful clothes, which seemed in order for a king and queen. But the look on their faces was what really drew my attention. Just by looking into the king's brilliant green eyes I could feel the intense love he felt for the woman beside him. As I turned my gaze to examine the queen's pale blue orbs, I felt such intense emotions that I looked away out of embarrassment. It seemed impossible to me that a painting could capture such detail and emotion, but as I looked at the intricate details even I couldn't pretend it wasn't magnificent.

I wasn't sure how long I stared at the painting, but eventually I pulled myself away from it and headed down the hall. This side of the castle practically begged me to walk down its hallways and view what the others ignored. Each painting I passed down the various halls held different groupings of the royal family, but each painting held the same intense emotions. The style remained the same in each work of art so I assumed it had to have been the same painter for each portrait.

As I reached the end of the long hallway I found myself at a dead end. To the right and left of me stretched long hallways that were littered with large ornate doors. There were large chain locks wrapped securely on the beautiful doors' handles. The museum feeling started to come back to me again as I walked down the left hallway first. So this was the deeply hidden secrets of the Lenox dimension. But why would the rooms be stuck together like this? Unless they used these rooms to lock away all of the illegal documents or contraband, it seemed funny to block off _all_ the rooms.

My curiosity was more than spiked, as I reached the largest set of doors on the end of the left hallway. I eyed the lock on the door handles and considered the consequences of breaking it and taking a peak into the room. What harm could it really do? Besides if they really thought I was this princess chick I could go anywhere I wanted. They couldn't get mad at me if I went into the room! Besides it was just going to be a quick peak, so no one would even know about it.

My hands made short work of the lock that was made of pure steel. I guess they weren't worried about people with super strength getting into their room, since after laying the lock on the floor the door opened easily. The large door made a long squeak proving its hinges had gone quite a while since they were last oiled. The room inside was completely black, except for the small illumination the hall lights let through.

Even in the poor lighting I could see the room was a giant bedroom. The walls were covered in a luxurious looking paper that held intricate designs that blended together to create an amusing pattern. On one edge of the room was a grand canopy bed that was covered in a cool blue comforter that matched the colored pattern on the walls. I could see a fire place on the opposite wall that was opened as if someone was getting ready to start a fire at any moment. There were various trinkets that I couldn't quite make out on some decorative shelves and a formal looking desk beside the doorway I stood at.

I placed my hand on the desk top softly and immediately recoiled as a film of dust greeted me. After looking at my dust covered palm for a minute or two, I looked closer at the desk and saw inches of thick dust covering the top of the desk. In fact, the whole place was covered in an ungodly thick dust that moved with each breath that escaped my lips. As a few of the specks reached my lungs, I started to cough. The room had almost lost my interest entirely, until my eyes spotted something sitting on the room's gigantic bed. Slowly I walked across the dusty room and grasped the large square item, and then I turned and quickly left the asthma attack room.

After shutting the door to the dusty room behind me, I sat down on the cold tile floor and examined the item I had taken from the room. It appeared to be some kind of book that I swore was probably thicker than any dictionary ever printed. The cover was sheltered by a thick layer of dust, that I spent a few minutes trying to wipe off. There was no way to get the book completely clean, so by the time I could make out the title I gave up trying to clear the dust.

"What the hell?" I squinted in the dim hallway light and tried to figure out what the heck was on the front of the book. What I had originally thought was a title; I could now see was some type of crest. After staring at the image for a while I realized why it seemed slightly familiar to me. With great care I held my locket beside the crest and could see the resemblance immediately. The only difference between the book crest and my crest was the simple emerald decorating the middle of my necklace. "So it's got the crest. Doesn't mean much." I let my necklace fall from my hand and land softly against my chest.

"Let's see what's in you…" I felt a little strange talking to myself in the empty hallway, but at the same time it helped take away the creepiness of the forbidden rooms. Slowly I opened the book and examined the first page. A large family tree diagram written in old fashioned calligraphy on tissue thin paper was folded up on the first page. The last branch entered on the tree was, not surprisingly, King Thomas and Queen Lydia's children.

On the next few pages I found birth certificates for the king, queen, and each of their children except for Alexandria. I did a little mental math and figured from the kids' birth certificates they would have been between the ages of twenty seven and twenty four by today. As strange as it seemed to me now, I hadn't really thought about what had happened to the past royal family. I had just assumed they had all passed away or abandoned their country. But now that I looked through the book I couldn't help but think there might be more to the family then just a simple disappearance. They didn't look like the type of people to just abandon their country. But what could have happened to them?

My curiosity started to grow as I began to imagine all sorts of terrible endings to the young family. As my hands flipped through the various pages in search for some type of answer, I found only more records and photographs of royals past and somewhat present. Even in the dim light I could tell the photographs were in order of time period. The clothes that the various Lenox family members wore and the quality of the photographs alerted me each time a new generation came about.

Once the photographs reached a young version of King Thomas and Queen Lydia, I started to pay closer attention. The pair had the same look of eternal love in their eyes whenever they were pictured together. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but when their first child started to appear in the pictures I would have sworn the emotional look became even stronger. Slowly more children began to enter the pictures and cause the family to take on a more complete image. By the time I reached the birth of what I guessed was Alexandria, my hands were starting to tire out from flipping pages.

Because of this laziness I started to skim quickly through the youngest child's section. I was about ready to shut the book altogether when an image on the last page jumped out at me. The image was simply a shot of a tiny little girl holding a stuffed tiger tightly in her arms. What drew my attention was the little girl's face. Her wide green eyes shimmered like emeralds in the photograph and seemed to shine out even brighter when they were partnered with her messy brown hair. The look of innocent excitement and joy in the child's face was the last bit of information my brain needed to make the connection. That child was none other than Molly.

I dropped the book quickly as if merely touching it burned my hands. The large book landed with a dull thud on the tile floor that echoed throughout the ghostly hallways. My chest began to heave quickly as the gut wrenching feeling of panic filled my body. Things started to piece together quickly in my mind though there were still questions I could not answer.

Could the girl in the photograph really be Molly? And for that matter what did it mean if it was? My stomach began to churn quickly and forced me to swallow back a small bit of bile as the worst realization began to dawn on me. Had I absorbed the princess? Was it possible that I had somehow completely absorbed the little girl? Was that how Molly got into my head?! There didn't seem to be any other way I could have gotten the child's psyche in my head unless I had absorbed her. So in a way, I had been the death of the Lenox clan… The princess was gone because of me. I didn't know how or why, but for some reason my conscious screamed that it was all my fault. The realization hit me harder then I would have assumed possible. I backed away from the book and tried to think of something that would prove I hadn't been the killer of the princess. There had to be another reason she was inside my mind! There had to be!!

The stress on my mind was starting to become almost painful to my recently healed body. My feet started to move me in a fast direction back down the long hallway I had already walked down. I was so distracted by the pain and guilt flowing through my mind that I never realized my unsteady feet had forged a new path down yet another deserted hallway. A set of doors larger and more regal then the one I had peaked behind moments earlier, stood before me in their own grandeur. Without hesitation I burst through the wide doors that were held shut by a chain and padlock.

As soon as I entered the room my mind officially lost the small bit of sanity it had left. Before my very eyes stood the same large room I saw in every nightmare. There was no blood covering the floor, but my overactive imagination took care of that quickly. In my mind I could picture the room covered in sticky, red liquid that ran along the tile and formed pools between the headless corpses lying aimlessly about the room. As soon as the nightmarish images started to flood my mind the voices I had long ago hoped would leave me alone began to scream, with new levels of anger and frustration.

I fell to my knees, and tried to block the voices by covering my ears with my fists. Luck proved not to be on my side, for as tears began to fall down my cheeks the voices reached an ear piercing level that burned my brain with each syllable. I let out my own yell of agony that sounded dull compared to the voices screeching inside my skull.

As the yelling grew and encompassed my own yells of pain, I began to see images that I did not recognize. They were mere flashes that changed with each few passing seconds, but I could make out the faces and sometimes the exact person from the blurry pictures. Mostly I recognized the royal family and Jude, but slowly more pictures of a sinister looking man with bright yellow eyes began to fill my mind. As the image of the old man burned into my mind like the screaming voices, I felt something wrap around my arms. I tried to fight it but whatever the force was it held me tighter in a warm embrace. I felt my mind starting to lose control over the images and with one final scream I fell into the, sadly familiar, darkness.

The next thing I was aware of was something warm wrapped around me and a soft pillow like surface under my body. My eyes felt newly damp as if I had been crying recently. As I opened the wet orbs slowly, I found myself staring at a blue shirt that I seemed to be moving up and down slowly each time I took a breath. Wait a minute. I thought about the shirt for a moment then looked up towards the top of it. As I figured, once my mind started to work sanely again, the person wearing the shirt was the one making it move slowly up and down.

Though it should have been more of a shock to me, I wasn't all that surprised to find it was Jude's arms around me. His face was turned towards the room's window and held a wistful look that seemed oddly deep for the man I assumed was no more than a pampered prince. I didn't want to draw his attention to the fact I was awake, but the annoying wetness of my eyes was enough to convince my subconscious to order my hand to wipe off the wetness. "Well," Jude smiled down at me as I tried to dry my wet cheeks, "I'm glad to see you are awake."

"How," I paused and had to clear my throat in order to get my voice to sound somewhat sane, "long was I out?"

"A good while." Jude watched me with such concern in his eyes that I couldn't bring myself to pull away from his embrace. "You really scared me Rogue. We could hear you scream across the entire castle. And by the time I got there you looked like you were in so much pain and then you just collapsed."

"Sorry…" I mumbled to him softly and pulled away from his warm hold. I could tell that I was back in the room I had been living in during my stay in Lenox. My tired mind figured Jude or Axel must have carried me here while I was unconscious, because I had no memory of leaving the nightmare room. The mere thought of that horrid place brought a sickening churn to my stomach. My face must have palled noticeable, because Jude sat up from his reclined position and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Rogue? Are you okay?"

I nodded my head half heartedly and tried to calm my stomach by taking a few deep breaths. The sadness and guilt that plagued my mind felt stronger than I thought was possible. I guess it made sense due to the fact I had pretty much killed the princess. But the real question was, had I massacred the rest of the family? From the pictures and nightmares I had gone through I was almost certain that the royal family members were the decapitated corpses on the bloody floor from my nightmares. But had I been the force behind their deaths? Had the complete eradication of the Lenox line been completely my fault?

"Rogue?"

I looked up and saw Jude watching me with that ever sympathetic gaze. He had no idea what a monster I really was. He was blissfully unaware of the nightmares I somehow brought to this dimension. Then again, even I didn't know how this was all my fault. But I figured there were enough clues to go ahead and blame me for the deed. There was no way I could look Jude in the eyes now. How could I explain to him that I had somehow absorbed his fiancée's mind and powers?

"Rogue, please speak to me."

As I processed Jude's words, the young man pushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. "Please, stop." I spoke up quietly and left the boy in a surprised state.

"Stop what Rogue?"

"Stop treating me like this." I bit my lip and tried to keep my emotions from welling up, "I'm not who you think I am Jude."

"The princess thing again? I thought we agreed to get a memory keeper to look into your pas-"

"No."

"What's going on? Please talk to me Rogue."

"I'm…" I paused and tried to think of the correct way to voice my horrid realizations, "I'm a monster Jude. It's because of me that the Lenox people lost their heir. I killed her."

"What?!" Jude's eyes grew wide and he leaned closer to me on the bed. He laid his warm hand across my forehead gently palm first, then the back of his hand. "You must have a fever or something. That is ridiculous."

I pushed his hand off my forehead and felt tears of anger and guilt well up in my eyes, "Stop it Jude! Stop treating me like I'm some fucking savior!" The boy leaned back from me and sat cross legged on my bed, while I sat on the other side with my knees pulled close to my chest. "I'm nothing but a murderer okay! I absorbed the princess and that is why I have her powers and memories. I killed the whole fucking family."

"Memories?"

"Yes!" I was starting to feel exasperated since Jude maintained this look of sympathy for me, "I have her persona in my mind and I keep having visions of the death of her family… I must have absorbed her with my own power and you all just assumed I was a mimic cause of that."

"Rogue," The boy stared into my eyes though I tried to look away from him, "you never mentioned any memories to me. All you ever informed me about was the fact the locket glowed for you and that you were from Earth. The rest of it was somewhat obvious though. You only had the skin absorption because you weren't trained the right way, and hell if you took away the white hair you would be a dead ringer for the princess. But now that you mention it, I was curious how you got the super strength and ability to fly since you are still a low level mimic."

"That was my first murder…"

As Jude took in my words his eyes started to grow a disbelieving haze. "Rogue, what are you talking about?" He was struggling to comprehend what I was telling him, but at the same time I could see he was trying to convince himself I was lying to him. I couldn't blame the boy for being skeptical. Hell, anyone with a lick of sanity would have trouble believing the person they had been around was a murderer.

"I…" My voice cracked as a wave of guilt overcame me and let a few tears start to spill from my eyes, "I _fully _absorbed a woman back on Earth and her mind and powers became permanently stuck in me." I couldn't keep my story going through the waves of pain and guilt that kept my stomach churning and tears falling down my face. My hands ungracefully rubbed the tears away while I waited for Jude to speak up once again.

"Rogue, I don't know why you absorbed the woman in the Earth dimension." He scooted a bit closer to me and tried to resist the urge to wipe some of my tears. "But I don't want you blaming yourself for one second when it comes to the death of the Lenox family."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because you couldn't have done it." Jude looked at me with an expression that was so grave I was taken aback slightly. "There were only two witnesses to the death of the royal family. And those to witnesses were Princess Alexandria and myself."

"You…" I blinked in shock at Jude who looked pale as the memories undoubtedly played in his mind. "You saw what happened to the family?" Jude nodded grimly and let me digest the information in silence. "Then, you know what happened to the princess right?"

"No," the boy spoke slowly and looked away from me, "I tried to run away from the scene and got hit in the head. When I woke up later the princess was gone and the rest of the family was dead." The guilt in my mind was somewhat lifted by the fact Jude had definite proof I was not the murderer of the royal family, but it did nothing to cure the pain I felt for the almost inescapable proof that I _had_ absorbed the heir to the throne.

I scooted closer to Jude and for some reason I couldn't comprehend, leaned forward and embraced the saddened boy in a hug. Jude wrapped his own arms around me and squeezed my body tightly to his own. For the first time since I had met this strange prince, I did not feel the urge to yank away from him or beat him for touching me. Even after he pulled me so close to his body that I was sitting on his lap, I still couldn't force out a defensive reaction.

Jude held me silently for a long time with his head buried in my hair and my face nestled easily in the crook of his neck. After he seemed to have calmed down somewhat I let the question burning in my mind slip out softly, "What happened to the royal family on that night Jude?" Jude's arms tightened around me in an almost protective move before he let out a long sigh and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. I stayed on his lap still since he had not relinquished his hold on my waist.

"Remember how I told you the Lenox were loved by almost everyone?" I nodded my head and waited for him to continue talking. "Well, the only people that dislike, no hate, the Lenox are the Morphs."

"Morphs?" The name sounded almost comical to me, but Jude's face was so serious that I didn't dare mention the fact.

"Yes. The Morphs are a small group of people that live in an isolated area on the opposite side of the capital of Lenox, Kurt. They are all born with bright yellow eyes and the ability to change their appearance into someone else. But they are not only able to change their appearance; they also change their blood type and even their scent to match the other person. In other words the only thing that separates them from being a complete copy is they cannot copy powers."

The image Jude's words brought forward in my mind unnerved me a little. I knew quite well who the description sounded like, but I still held out the hope that she was not a member of this group. It wasn't as if he had mentioned they had blue skin and red hair. No, it had to just be a coincidence…. Right?

"These Morphs," Jude continued his speech slowly, "do have their own type of powers, well at least the males do. Every male born to the Morphs has super strength. They can use the super strength even while they are disguised as someone else." Jude gave me a few moments to process the information before he continued, "The Morphs lived in harmony with the other people in the dimension in the beginning, but they started to change once a radical Morph named Sunil began to preach that Morphs were the dominant race. He organized a large amount of followers and started to attack various villages throughout the dimension. It was Kurt Lenox, the first mimic in the dimension that was able to stand up to the threat and destroy the Morphs uprisings. The people were so grateful for the help that they proclaimed Kurt their ruler and protector."

"Sounds like everything was worked out." I looked up at Jude who had grown silent and was absentmindedly running his hand on my back.

"For a long time it was." Jude let out a soft sigh and looked up to the ceiling as if he could see the story play out in front of his eyes. "But there were still a section of Morphs that were upset there leader had been defeated. They broke away from the rest of the Morphs and settled in their own colony of sorts. The people begged Kurt to destroy all of the rebellious Morphs that still proclaimed to be superior, but he was far too kind hearted to do such a thing. So Kurt declared that the Morph's could continue their lifestyle in the outer lands, as long as they didn't hurt anyone else in the dimension or try to conquer any lands past the land the king allotted them." Jude let out a long breath and hugged my body closer to him. Sometime during his story his eyes had fallen to look at my face, and I couldn't get past the intense sadness that flowed through the blue green orbs. Something bad was coming, and I knew it. This was one fairy tale that had no happy ending.

"For years the agreement stood between the Morphs and the Lenox rulers. In fact things went so peaceful a lot of the people forgot about the problems the ancient Morphs had once caused for the dimension. So the place prospered and as I mentioned before, a new Lenox ruler was always born to take the throne." Jude had a slight bit of hope in his eyes as his story continued to what I guessed was one of the few good parts, "By the time Princess Alexandria was born the people had lost interest in the Morphs and focused solely on their daily lives. In fact, that is when I first met the princess. I was three years old and through some kind of historical charting that I still don't understand, they declared I was her betrothed." Jude gave me a somewhat funny look of disgust and lightened his tone a little bit, "If you want to gross a three year old out tell them they have to marry an annoying baby girl."

I laughed a bit and tried to picture Jude as a three year old boy. He seemed far too refined and serious to have ever been a child to me, but everyone had to be a child at sometime in their life. "Where you and the princess close?"

"Eventually." Jude's face seemed a little bit sad now as he continued the story, "She found her way into my heart somehow and by the time she was five we were quite close. I guess it was the fact I was the only one she could touch skin to skin, outside of her own family, which drew us together. But either way were best friends, until the night everything changed." Jude's face grew pale and he hugged me so tightly I wondered if he thought I was going to disappear, "It was the night of the princess' sixth birthday party that the Morphs attacked the palace without warning." Jude shivered inwardly and hugged me closer as his story became a soft whisper, "Alex and I had been playing hide and seek through the palace when the attack started. One of the guards demanded I seek shelter so I ran to the throne room. I figured Alex must have already reached the room because I hadn't been able to find her. But, when I reached the doors of the throne room the guards were laying on the floor bleeding from deep wounds."

I shivered as Jude's words painted the mental image I had been worried about. So this was how the Lenox line met its unfortunate ending…

"I peaked inside the throne room and saw the king, queen, and three of their children surrounded by Morphs. The largest Morph had a hard grip on the King's neck that was obviously starting to affect his breathing. The other Morphs held knives up to the queen and royal children's throats. They made the king promise to give them total control of the dimension and not use his powers to stop them or they would kill his family. The king, against his family's wishes, agreed in hopes that they could be saved. But the second after he agreed and let his defense fall, the large Morph snapped his head clean off and let the body tumble to the ground."

Jude stopped his words and buried his head into my hair. I didn't push the boy to continue his story. Just listening to the tragic tale was enough to make my stomach churn; I couldn't imagine the pain of having to relive the memories over and over again. Jude couldn't have been older than nine when he saw that. What kind of child could handle that much blood and gore?

"They killed the others slowly. They popped their necks with slow and painstaking twists that let their victims scream in pain for a minute or two before they died. It was after they threw the bodies on the floor of the throne room, that I heard the sound of crying. I saw the princess staring out from between the two thrones with wet eyes wide with shock. The Morphs didn't notice her at first, so I took the opportunity to yell at them. They were so distracted they took off after me and eventually were killed by palace guards. The last thing I remember was tripping in the hall way and hitting my head against the tile floor. By the time I woke up every member of the royal family was declared dead, except for Alexandria whose body they couldn't find. And with the heir gone, the council decided that I should be groomed to rule alone. And ever since, I have been ruling this dimension as Prince Judah."

Jude's words drowned out slowly and I could feel his need for comfort as he hugged me closer. I didn't question the boy anymore about the past, even though there were some very important questions that still needed to be answered. The only thing my mind let me do was wrap my own arms around the sad boy, and rest my head on his chest. Whether Jude believed I was the princess, or I believed that I had absorbed her didn't seem to matter anymore. The way I saw it, either way I had caused this dimension problems. And maybe becoming the ruler and trying to protect its citizens was the best choice. I didn't think I would make a very good ruler, but as Jude and I lay on top of the large bed I couldn't help but think I owed the Lenox dimension. This would be my only chance to right one of the terrible wrongs from my past.

I had to become the ruler of Lenox.


	20. A Dance of Decisions

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thank you for reading this story! Please feel free to leave a review. ^ - ^ **

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I must have fallen asleep sometime through the night, because the next thing I knew Jude was trying to escape my grasp. My arms released the boy and alerted him to the fact I was awake. "Mornin' " I stretched out my sore arms and sat up on the bed, while Jude perched on the edge and tried to fix his matted hair.

"Hey," He looked at me briefly then pretended to be busy fixing his hair, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"No problem." I explained to him through a long yawn. The boy didn't respond to my words which seemed strange to me. Normally Jude would have already been talking a mile a minute or at least arguing with me. "What time is it anyway?"

Jude shrugged casually and reached down to grab what looked like a shoe from the floor by the bed, "Early morning, I guess."

I leaned over Jude as he focused on putting his shoes on and stared at the glowing digital clock. The bright red numbers were the only real light source in the room, minus a tiny bit of light drifting in from the bottom of the room's door. "The clock says five thirty am." Jude made a soft grunt like noise to prove he had heard my announcement. I watched him keep working on fixing his shoes and tried to figure out why I was getting the cold shoulder. This wasn't the same guy who cooked, fought, and even carried me to medical help. Besides, I figured after all he told me last night we were going to be able to talk… well, openly.

Jude stood up straight and took a step towards the door. "Jude." He stopped but didn't turn to look at me. ""What's wrong with you? Why are you giving me the cold shoulder?"

The boy paused a moment then asked in a voice no louder than a whisper, "Who is Remy?"

"Remy?" I stared at Jude in confusion and hoped that I had misunderstood his whisper.

"Yes."

"How did you hear about Remy?"

"You." Jude finally turned around to look at me. "You kept mumbling about Earth, danger, and Remy in your sleep."

"I…" My brain couldn't connect any words together that would be a good defense as I stared into Jude's strange facial expression.

"You don't owe me an explanation." Jude's eyes became clouded with a depressing haze as he stared at me. "I should have known you had a guy back in Earth."

"A guy?" It took my tired brain a few moments to make the connection, "Oh. No, Jude. Remy isn't my boyfriend. He's just a… a friend." The emotions running through my mind didn't make sense to me. I felt guilty for upsetting Jude, but there was also the strange pang of guilt in my chest when I labeled Remy as just a friend.

"You must really miss him."

"I kinda do." I sighed softly and ran a hand through my wild hair, "I miss them all really."

"Well," Jude looked down at me and kept a neutral expression on his usually joyful face, "the researchers have been studying on the light stone, so you can go home to Earth soon. I won't make you stay and wait for the memory unlocker. You can leave as soon as you want."

"Jude stop this." I crawled off the bed and stood in front of the quiet boy, "I'm not… I'm not leaving."

Jude looked at me in shock and had to take a moment to digest the words, "Wait, so you believe you're the princess?"

"I believe there is a better chance that I absorbed her somehow."

"Then why do you want to stay?"

"Let's just say I've screwed up a lot in my life and this might be my only chance to fix one of my mistakes."

Jude reached his hand out and touched my cheek softly, "Rogue it wouldn't help anyone if you make this choice out of guilt."

"It's not guilt." I shook my head and stared him down with a face that tried to appear positive, "I want to stay. It's every girl's dream they will be a princess right?" My voice felt hollow and I was pretty sure Judah could see through it just as well as I could.

"You would have to give up Earth you know. If you stay here you'll always be Alexandria."

I forced my face to stay positive though my heart said this was wrong, "I can do that. The people here need Alexandria."

Jude looked at me with worry in his sea green eyes. I couldn't blame him though, I was worried as well. How could I pretend to be a princess for the rest of my life? And for that matter how could I say goodbye to the dimension I had lived in for so many years? Maybe I _was_ doing this for guilt. But as far as I could figure this was the most fitting punishment someone could get for destroying a princess. I deserved this…

The rest of the day passed in a rushed hurry. Griffin and Axel had been quite surprised when Jude and I announced that I was going to be taking the throne as Alexandria. My stomach had been churning so powerfully that Axel's hug had almost forced me to vomit on him. Griffin seemed to have the same reaction as Jude when it came to the news. The old man had tried to convince me that giving up my life on Earth without definite proof was absurd, but I just kept mumbling that I had made my decision and it was final.

As the days started to pass by I began to receive a crash course in princess etiquette. Eleanor had offered to take the lessons with me which seemed like the best offer yet, since the teacher was a strict looking woman who had so many wrinkles I figured she had to be at least two hundred. And it didn't help in the slightest that her name happened to be, as she explained to us, Madame Ridge. I'll never forget the way her nostrils flared out in anger when Eleanor and I started to chuckle under our breaths.

By the fourth day of class Eleanor and I were starting to grow quite bored with the etiquette lessons. "Now girls," Madame Ridge sat up straight in her chair and crossed her ankles, "a true lady sits daintily on her seat and crosses her ankles."

I leaned over to Eleanor, who was having trouble getting her ankles to cross like the teacher, "And all this time I thought I understood the concept of sitting." Eleanor giggled somewhat and whispered back, "I was thinking the same thing."

"Whispering is quite poor behavior young ladies." Madame Ridge stood up from her chair and gave me and Eleanor a very stern look.

"Sorry Madame Ridge." Eleanor spoke up politely and somewhat pleased the angry woman. The strange thing about Eleanor was how quickly her personality changed to fit the situation. I had never seen her fight, but from the stories Axel told me, she kicked butt in a fight. Then again, there was also the side of Eleanor that watched over Jude and I like children and infatuated Axel with a mere bashful smile. That girl had to be the best juggler of multiple personalities in all of Lenox.

"Thank you Miss Eleanor. That is very polite." Madame Ridge turned her eyes to me and awaited an apology. I couldn't help but find the woman amusing. She had a better chance of getting struck by lightning. These etiquette lessons hadn't been so bad at the beginning, but the lady was starting to get on my last nerve. Everything I did was wrong in her little book of etiquette. I was about to tell her the exact words on my mind, until Axel cleared his throat and gave me a look that seemed to say, you were the one who agreed to this so be nice. My mind relented just enough to mumble out, "I'm sorry."

"You mean to say, I _am_ sorry." Madame Ridge corrected me once more and snipped my last thread of patience. Of course before I actually got to do any damage Axel, who I was pretty sure came only to see Eleanor, spoke up to the lady, "Excuse me Madame Ridge. I hate to interrupt but perhaps we should move on to the lesson for today. Princess Alexandria and Prince Jude do have other commitments they need to keep." Eleanor and I stared at each other as Axel's usually playful voice transformed into a strict tone. Madame Ridge checked the clock on the wall then looked to Eleanor and I with a strict face, "Now we have a special lesson today girls. And Prince Judah has offered to help with today's lesson."

"Jude?" I blinked and tried to think of what lesson Jude would be good at teaching. Maybe he could teach someone how to grow a surfer haircut, but nothing on etiquette.

"Yes. Prince Judah has graciously volunteered to be your part-" Madame Ridge stopped her words as Jude entered the room quietly. "Prince Judah," she bowed for Jude, "Thank you so much for coming to our class today." Jude smiled at her and gave her a smaller bow, "It is always a pleasure to see you Madame, but please call me Jude."

Madame Ridge nodded quickly and offered some apology I didn't bother to listen to. Apparently Jude didn't listen to the lady's words either, since his eyes stared straight into my own. His sea green eyes looked at my outfit as if it was something rather interesting. As a small smile crept on his face I furrowed my brow and stuck my tongue out at him. The outfit was a bit different then I was used to, but it seemed like something a princess would wear. I looked down at the silk copper dress that covered my body. The spaghetti straps covered little of my shoulders and supported the wrap style dress nicely. I smoothed out the silk fabric as a wave of self-consciousness consumed me. Showing skin was a bit uncomfortable, but everyone in the palace and in the towns of Lenox had been warned not to touch my skin. The real problem I had with the dress, and all of my _princess_ clothing, was how much attention it brought to me. Everyone I passed in the castle or on the rare outings to Kurt would stare at me and scream my name like I was some sort of messiah.

"Now we will start our lesson!" Madame Ridge piped up cheerfully and motioned for Eleanor and I to come forward. Once we had gotten close to the boys, Ridge started instructing us on how to take the correct pose for a waltz. "Now ladies, the men will lead in this dance. They will be the frame."

"Dance?" I blinked somewhat and looked with mixed emotions at Jude since the boy had already grasped my waist in preparation.

"Yes." Madame Ridge adjusted Axel and Eleanor's pose before walking across the room and turning on an old looking record player. "First we will focus on learning the waltz. Once you have mastered this dance, we will move on to the official dance of Lenox."

"But I don't danc-"

Jude placed a finger against my lip and shook his head before whispering in my ear, "Don't worry. I have you covered." A mischievous smile crossed his lips as his foot nudged mine gently. I looked down to see Jude's feet trying to get under mine. The idea finally made sense to me, and without a word of objection I stood on top of Jude's feet (luckily for him I had chosen to avoid the spiked heels). It was strange how close that simple act brought me close to Jude. The young prince had somehow wormed his way into my mind. I didn't understand it in the slightest, but Jude always made me feel comfortable. When it was just the two of us things seemed rather nice even though I hated to admit it.

As the music started up, Jude moved his feet slowly and elegantly. I leaned in closer worried that I might slip off of his feet and gain unwanted attention from the teacher. Jude chuckled softly and held me closer to his warm chest, "Nervous?" I shook my head and tried to look confident as Jude caused our duo to move casually across the floor. "Of course not."

"Good." Jude gave me a grin and suddenly dipped me towards the floor. I hated to admit it, but his little move took me by surprise and caused me to hold onto him tighter. Madame Ridge chastised Jude, but then turned her focus to poor Axel. The boy was having enough trouble just being close to Eleanor, leading her in a dance was causing him to trip over his own feet.

Jude let his hands change position and rest on my lower back as he still guided both of our feet in a glide like motion across the floor. "I thought you weren't scared?" He smiled at me and even chuckled as I gave him a mock pout. "There ain't dipping in this dance. You cheated."

"Me?"

"Yes you."

"No," Jude grinned and twirled us around once more, "I never cheat."

"You just lie."

The young man chuckled and leaned his head down so it was a mere inch or two from mine, "About some things yes. Everyone does." He slowed our twirling down and seemed to finally realize we were supposed to be dancing with the slow tempo of the music, "But there are some things I never lie about." My arms wrapped around his neck to keep better balance, "Like what?"

"Well," He gave me a grin that, even though I hated it, made my heart beat a little faster, "I never lied about you."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Prove it. Tell me something."

"Anything." He dipped me once more, but I was ready for this one.

"Tell me why you were staring at me so much."

Jude started to chuckle then gave me a wide smile as he noticed the sour look on my face. "Sorry," He leaned his head closer to mine and gave me an honest smile. "I just can't believe you don't realize the reason." I stared at him in confusion still, so the boy stopped our dancing and turned me to face a floor length mirror that hung on a simple hook. "That is why." He whispered to me and watched as I stared into the reflection before me.

The woman in the mirror had slightly curly hair that fell gracefully almost past her shoulder blades. Her skin was coated in a healthy looking tan that was only hidden by the billowy dress covering her figure and creating curves that looked too good to be real. I would have sworn Jude had turned me to face a painting, but the prominent white streak in the woman's hair reminded me that it was _my_ reflection. For the first time, I could see why the entire Lenox dimension thought I was Alexandria.

"See my point?" Jude whispered the words softly and stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Excuse me your highness," Madame Ridge cleared her throat loudly and walked over to us, "I already dismissed class. You may go."

"Oh." I pulled out of Jude's grasp and tried to hide my blush by staring at the floor. "I uh..." I backed away slowly, "I'll see you later guys." As I left the room I could hear Axel chuckling behind me and Eleanor sighing softly as if she was watching some romantic comedy. My cheeks burned with a more intense flame as the guards watched me walk quickly towards my room. Why did everyone think Jude and I were so cute? It's not like we were a couple or anything. Then again I was supposed to play the woman who was his fiancée. But there wasn't anything real between us… There couldn't be… Or could there?

As soon as I entered my large bedroom I noticed something interesting on the bed. I had almost forgotten about my old clothes and items from Earth but the bag on my bed reminded me instantly of my old backpack. I walked with a bit of hope to the bag and inspected the pockets. It _was_ the same bag I had packed the day I left the x-men. All of my items were even in the exact same places I remembered putting them. I had recalled Jude mentioning something about planning to give it back to me, so I assumed he had sent one of the servants to deliver it to my room.

The contents of the bag sent me down a strange memory lane for a good hour and a half. Though I didn't need them anymore, I found myself folding the Earth clothes and putting them away in one of the free dresser drawers. Clothes had never been that important to me, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat attached to my last Earth possessions.

Once the larger pockets of the bag were empty I reached in to the smaller front pocket. As my hand felt around the empty pocket I felt a thin piece of stiff paper coated in what felt like lamination. I pulled the item out of the bag curious as to what I could have left in the normally unused pocket. The item that greeted me took my breath away. In my hand was a Queen of Hearts playing card with an intricate rose design burned into the middle.

"Remy…" The name slipped out of my lips in a strange whisper. I couldn't believe the name I used to yell out in annoyance sounded so foreign to my tongue. As I watched the playing card, my heart began to send me strange pangs of guilt. But why should I feel guilty? The Cajun just liked to irritate me. I didn't actually mean something to him. No, I was just something to flirt with for the danger addict. What could be more tempting to a gambler then something they can't win?

I tossed the lightweight card towards the pillows on the bed and watched it land face up on the silk pillow cover. With a grumble of annoyance I flipped the card over and left the backside face up. My eyes closed softly and I leaned back on my bed hoping to earn some freedom from the Remy guilt.

_I looked around and saw nothing but barren land covered in dust like dirt that was spotted with rocks. The place reminded me of a lot of the dessert areas in Arizona. A hard wind blew through the area and swept up the dust into a tornado like mixture. A few specks landed in my mouth and made me cough as the horrible tasting sand coated my taste buds. "What the hell?!" I turned around and saw something rather strange before me. Remy and Jude stood facing each other with looks so serious I wondered if they were made of stone. _

"_Leave her alone!" Jude growled out the words to Remy who merely watched him with a cocky grin. _

"_She should come home to her real world!" _

"_This is her real world!"_

"_Face it she isn't this princess chick! She is Rogue an x-men and an Earthling!" _

"_She is Alexandria!" _

_I watched in confusion as the two boys argued over me. It seemed rather immature. I had already made my decision, and nothing these boys could tell me would change that. "Guys come on!" I had to yell since the wind was picking up and blowing the dirt harder around us. "Stop being idiots! This is my choice not yours!"The wind began to pick up even harder then and I started to feel the sting of the grains of sand against my skin. I looked at the boys in worry, because if I felt it they had to feel it twice as hard at least. But when I stared at the boys they just watched me with their usual faces. It was as if they didn't even see the sandstorm swirling through the area. _

"_You have to choose Rogue." Jude's voice came out calm now as he watched the sandstorm start beating me harder. _

"_Who do you love?" Remy asked and stared at me with the same blank look. _

"_Love? What the hell are you two talking about??" I flinched as the sand picked up speed in its attack. _

"_Who do you love Rogue?" The boys spoke in unison now as I felt the sand beneath my feet start to pull me with a strength greater then my own. _

"_Forget that!" I yelled to them over the loud wind, "I need help!" _

"_Who?" The boys demanded as my torso started to sink lower into the sand. _

_My brain began to panic as I tried to think of some way to get their help. Before I knew it though my mind decided on one more attempt to get the boys attention, "I don't know! I don't know who I love!" The sand sucked me deeper and the boys merely stared at me as I left the dessert for what lied beneath the sand..._

"I don't know!" I shouted the words loudly and sat up on my bed with a start. My pounding heart began to slow down as I looked around the room and realized that the dessert had been nothing but a dream. A rather odd dream. I couldn't help but find it stressful as I thought about my choice. Why hadn't I just shouted one of their names? If I had just picked one it would have been easy to be saved. But I couldn't do it. I could not pick just one of the boys. Somehow, without my knowledge, I had grown a strong fondness for the irritating Cajun and the pampered Prince.

But who did I love?

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**A message for all Remy fans: Thank you for not killing me over the past chapters! : )**


	21. Speeches are the Easy Part

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

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"I can't do this!" I paced the thick carpet of my room barefoot while Jude sat on my bed looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. On his lap sat a large notebook full of scribbles and failed attempts to create an intelligent speech. "You can." Jude made a paper ball and flung it at me playfully. My hand shot up automatically and deflected the wad. Jude watched the paper fly so hard into the wall that it left a dent. "I didn't know you could do that to paper." He chuckled somewhat and crawled off of my bed so he could physically stop my pacing. "Look you won't get anything done if you make a hole in the floor so why don't you sit down and think on your speech?"

"Why do we have to do a damn speech anyway?"

"Well for starters the visiting village leaders expect you to, and second you have been gone for over twelve years so it might be nice to give everyone a little more than hello."

"Well they will have to settle for a hello. I don't do speeches." I walked away from Jude and flopped onto my bed.

"Isn't that what you said about dancing?"

"So what?"

"I helped you out with that. So I'll just help you out with this."

"If help is code for getting me out of this, then help away."

Jude sat next to me on the bed and let out a chuckle, "That is not help Rogue. That is wishful thinking." I shrugged somewhat and let the boy watch my face for more of a reaction. At the moment my mind was too busy juggling the thought of my first royal shindig. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had just gotten to blend into the shadows. But a princess can't do that, of course the princess had to give a speech and host the whole damn party. And as if that wasn't enough, the dang party was supposed to be in celebration of not only me, but also my official engagement to Jude.

"Hey," Jude waved a hand in front of my face, "Anyone home?"

"Stop that." I pushed his hand away and lay back on my bed. Jude followed my lead and stared up at the canopy above us.

"How about we try an exercise?"

"I'm not going to dance with you."

"No." Jude chuckled and sat up, "I mean a writing exercise."

"Fine." I sighed and watched Jude turn around so he could sit with his legs crossed while facing me, "Ok Rogue." Jude pulled his pad of paper onto his lap again, "I want you to close your eyes." I followed his order and waited for further instruction. "Now, I want you to imagine Lenox in your mind. Picture the-"

"I've only been here for sixteen days, there is little to picture."

"When you're too busy mouthing off yes." Jude placed a finger on my lips for a moment then pulled it away, "Now picture things here. What comes to mind?"

"Umm," I furrowed my brow and tried to focus on the hundreds of things Lenox had shown me. The beautiful forest area, Eleanor and Axel, little Bolt, and even Jude made this dimension something special. "I guess deep woods, friends, um power matches, and uh a really large castle." I opened my eyes and looked at Jude curiously, "What is this supposed to prove?"

"This," Jude cleared his throat and started to read from his tablet, "My Dear Lenox leaders, it brings me great joy to stand before you today. Words cannot express how happy I am to be back amongst these deep woods, grand fixtures, and of course wonderful people."

"Damn." I sat up and looked at Jude's smooth cursive words, "You got all that from what I said?"

"You don't get this far in politics without learning to 'create' stuff out of thin air." He made air quotes around the word create and let out a laugh, "But you will have to write your own speeches later."

A groan slipped out before I could muffle the noise. Jude raised an eyebrow curiously and watched as I got up from the bed and stood in front of my floor length mirror. How could they expect me to do this? I knew it was really my fault for volunteering I stay, but I had only done that out of guilt. There was not a positive thought in my entire mind about playing princess for the rest of my life. I couldn't run a dimension! Hell, I hadn't been able to keep the class goldfish alive in sixth grade.

"Stop that." Jude came up behind me and hugged my waist gently at first, then tighter as he pulled me against his chest. "Stop what?" I stared in the mirror and let Jude keep his arms around me, since it all truth it was somewhat nice to have a little comfort.

"You know what you're doing."

"Psychic as well now, Judie?"

"Nope just very observant," He chuckled out the phrase simply then rested his chin on top of my head. "And you are wrong you know."

"What?"

"You are an amazing girl Rogue. Princess or not, you are a wonderful woman."

"Yea right." I rolled my eyes, and then stared into the mirror with squinted eyes. The reflection that greeted my eyes was so different then what I was used to seeing. A girl with medium length curls of brown and white framing lightly tanned skin, was not something I was accustomed to at all. I was almost positive the x-men wouldn't recognize me now that my natural curly (and until now usually hidden by short cuts and straighteners) hair was showing and my skin was no longer translucent white. Part of me thought I wasn't even Rogue anymore…

"You need to realize how awesome you really are." Jude whispered into my ear then with one quick swoop picked me up in his arms and spun me around. "Put me down Jude!" I growled at him as the happy boy spun me once more. "Not until you admit how great you are." The boy laughed at me and kept spinning me playful around the room at a quickening pace. "If you don't put me down I swear I will break your neck!!" Jude seemed to know my threat was hollow and merely spun me around faster. I knew quite well I could get away from the boy's hold with no problem, but as he held me in his warm grasp and spun me like we were dancing I found myself somewhat enjoying the ride. How the hell did Jude do that? One minute I am upset or angry and the next he puts a smile on my face.

Jude's twirling stopped since my yells of protest quieted down. He stared down at me in my arms with his mischievous grin, "Ready to admit defeat?"

"Fine. You damn cheater, I'm a great person."

Jude smiled at me and set my feet back on the floor. He held my waist still in his grasp and tilted his head, "That's okay for starters. I was hoping for a little less malice."

"I'll show you malice-"

"Okay, okay," The boy chuckled and looked down at me, "Why don't you practice saying it in a cheery tone while you get your green dress on?"

"What?? I'm not wearing that dress!" Jude ducked away from me with the suaveness I would have expected from a certain Cajun. "We agreed special occasion of my choice." Jude grinned at me playfully then ducked as I tossed his spiral at him. The boy escaped out the door before I could throw anything else at him, but I managed to yell after him, "You won't win this one Jude!!"

Five hours later I was stuffed into the green gown from our first shopping trip, while Eleanor tried to style my curls in what she claimed was the perfect hair-do for the party. "How the hell does he always win?!" I grumbled under my breath and felt Eleanor's glove covered hand adjust my chin upward so she could still work on my hair. My words became more colorful as I stared at the wall and imagined ways to make Jude suffer.

"You two are so strange." Eleanor laughed softly and started to stick some hair pins in.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well…" She thought about it for a moment. Eleanor had long ago dropped her formal actions around me. The girl still had no idea that I was possibly not the princess, but she still treated me with the same kind of ease and kindness that Axel did. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it."

"If it involves me kicking Jude's butt I'm all ears."

"That's what I mean."

"What?"

"You two fight and threaten each other, but then you turn right around and like like each other." She giggled at the childish term.

"Like?!" I was so taken aback by the word I tumbled off the edge of the bed and landed with a thud on the floor, "I do not like Jude!"

"Had me fooled." Eleanor reached out a gloved hand to help me up, "I mean the way you look at each other and the fact you doodled pictures of him on the writing assignments we had to do for Ridge."

"I didn't draw him!" I tried to defend my honor as I climbed back onto the bed.

"Well you did draw that other guy to. But I'm pretty sure you focused on your Jude drawing."

"I didn't draw Jude! I don't love him!"

"I never said love…" Eleanor looked at me with a somewhat serious face. After a moment she gave me a motherly smile and wrapped her covered arms around my shoulders, "You do love him." She giggled playfully and let me go after a few moments, "Don't try to deny it either. I can see it in your eyes Lexie."

My eyes stared at the woman unsure what to say in my defense. I had long ago admitted to myself that I had feelings I didn't understand for Jude and Remy, but should I announce it out loud? This would actually be the perfect choice for the princess. How many princesses actually marry the man they were betrothed to and not dread it completely? This was who Alexandria's parents had picked for her to marry and love. It was probably the last major decision they made for her before they met with an untimely end. Picking Jude would solve one of my princess problems easily. But if it was all so easy why did I feel so strange about it?

"Rogue?"

"Hm?" I looked up to see Eleanor glancing down at me from her kneeling position on the bed. The girl had a look of concern over her features so I tried to calm her with a small smile, "I guess in a way I do…" Eleanor smiled at me sweetly and gave me a kind hug. After a few minutes of hugging me a knock on the door reminded her that I would be needed at the party in a small amount of time. "Come in!" I called hoping my voice carried through the thick wooden door.

Eleanor was back to fixing my hair by the time a very handsome looking Axel peeked his head into the room. "Look at you." I smiled at the giant man dressed in a very fancy looking tuxedo. His outfit was orderly and even his shoes were shinned to a bright finish that reflected the lighting in the room. A blush spread across his wide face as he took in my compliment, "Thank you your majesty." He offered Eleanor and I a little bow that resulted in a button popping off and landing on the floor. His blush grew three times larger as he slowly backed out of the room still in his bowing position.

Eleanor and I watched him go with curious and amused eyes. The poor guy had been trying to stick to a diet, but apparently the late night ice cream raids he took Eleanor and I on caught up to him. "I better go check on him." Eleanor patted my shoulder then climbed off my bed. "Besides I need to get my own dress on." The woman held up her hands and stared at me like she was surveying a work area, "You my friend are ready to go. The hair and makeup are great. All you need are your gloves."

"Is it good?"

Eleanor gave me a shocked face, "Good? Good is an insult to this hair-do." She took me by the hand and walked me to the mirror. As I stared into the reflective glass I couldn't help but feel a little vain. The dark green dress was kind of pretty on me, now that my hair and skin had changed somewhat. The length of the gown went to the top of my knees and seemed to be made of a fabric that would twirl with each movement of my body. The top portion of the dress was separated by a thin black ribbon that wrapped around my body just below my bust. I fingered the black spaghetti straps holding the dress up, as my eyes slowly focused on the hair-do Eleanor had given me. She had given me a simple braid that ran around my head and met in the back where it fell down easily into the rest of my ringlet curls. My white bangs had escaped the braid and were framing my face along with a few whips of curly brown hair. The hairdo reminded me a great deal of the old timey medieval princess movies. "You really did a great job Elle."

"Well this is an important occasion." Eleanor hugged me softly then walked to the door, "I'll see you when you make your grand entrance. Don't forget your gloves."

"Yea." I gave her a soft wave and looked to my bed where my gloves sat.

"Oh and Princess," Eleanor stuck her head back into my room, "I won't tell Jude about the, you know what emotion." I groaned and tugged my elbow length gloves on with angry thoughts running through my mind.

The next five minutes played out like some kind of movie. It was as if someone had pushed the fast forward button on my life and before I knew it left me standing behind a very large and very grand looking door. Jude's arm was entwined with mine in a caring fashion as his eyes tried to figure out how to calm me down. "Rogue it will be alright." He whispered into my ear softly, "You got a great speech and everyone is excited to see you. It will be great."

"Yea…" I bit my lipstick coated lip and tried not to think of how many ways I could ruin the whole charade. Why was it that everyone wanted to be a princess anyway? Did people actually enjoy this kind of event? Who in their right mind would want to get up in front of strangers in a fancy gown and talk?

"Ready?" Jude smiled at me and started to lead me forward as the guards held open the doors and a regally dressed Griffin announced our presence to the noisy crowd below. Jude led me to the railing of the upper level and stood confidently beside me. It was as if he really thought I could do this. As I looked out into the crowd I saw a mix of sharply dressed people with interesting colors of skin and hair. I was glad to see Earth like people were in the crowd, but a few had tails, ears, blue or some other color skin or hair. They really had an interesting place here in Lenox. It was as if everyone just accepted their differences and went on with their lives. I guess it was this strange comfort that allowed my speech to flow easily out of my mouth. By the time I finished a green haired woman was wiping her eyes and the rest were clapping hard. "That was wonderful," Jude whispered into my ear with his face so close I would have sworn he was about to kiss me ear. The boy pulled back then and started to lead me easily down the stairs. Due to my spiked heels the stairs were a bit of a challenge. But once again, Jude held me steady and helped me make my way down the stairs without a single trip or stumble.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs the people began to mingle once more. The entire ballroom like floor was covered in people either dancing or trying to get a turn talking to us. I lost count of how many men kissed my glove covered hand within the first few minutes of meet and greet time. I guess this is what the movie stars must feel like. They saw themselves as average people, but the world saw them as amazing god like figures.

Jude helped me escape the meet and greet after an hour had gone by. He led me over to the drink table and held out a glass of champagne, "You look beautiful tonight." I took the glass and pretended to be too busy drinking to look at him. "All we have to do is dance alone, dance with some of the others, thank them for their gifts, and eat some cake."

"Gifts? Cake? I thought this was just to announce the engagement."

"Well, yes. But it's kind of a royal tradition to give gifts at the engagement party, the bachelor party, the bridal shower, and the wedding itself. So overall you are going to be getting a whole heck of a lot of gifts."

"Dang." I looked behind Jude and saw the mound of presents that looked like they were wrapped in cloth and paper I could never afford. That couldn't be a good sign. That must mean the gifts were stuffed full of even more expensive items. "I can't-"

"Don't worry." Jude smiled at me and placed a soft hand on my shoulder, "It's also tradition to donate most of the loot to charity. Most of the gifts are things for the orphanages or low income families." So the Lenox once again had a system. This place was starting to seem perfect. I almost wished that I had really been the long lost princess. If I could have avoided the speeches and girly clothes, this would have been a great place.

Jude took my empty glass then and set it down on the tray of a waiter in a tuxedo. "Ready to dance my dear?" He smiled at me kindly and started to lead me to the dance floor. I followed with a nervous glance at every face watching us eagerly from the sidelines. They all smiled at me, but I couldn't help but feel nervous. Griffin looked at us with a neutral expression that was rather close to the look of disappointment I was used to seeing from him.

Jude stopped in the middle of the ballroom and took up a pose that we had learned only a few days earlier. "We just have to do a little waltz." He whispered to me and waited until I nodded my head slightly to start slowly moving to the live bands music. Our bodies swayed around the dance floor in a smooth motion that I would never have thought possible. I stumbled slightly, but recovered quickly enough that no one seemed to notice. The crowd clapped as Jude dipped me into a deep bow, which was apparently the signal for the others to come join us on the floor. Jude held me closer as the other couples joined us on the floor. I rested my head out of habit on his chest and watched the couples around us sway back and forth. I felt the boy's warm hand rub my back softly while we maintained a more stationary type of dance pose.

The moment was interrupted by Griffin though who tapped Jude on the shoulder and after asking rather politely held out his hand to take me in the next dance. I had no desire what so ever to dance with him, but the crowd around us were watching me so intensely that I couldn't force a no out. "Alright." I sighed and took his hand gently.

I took a slow breath and tried to calm my mind as Griffin started us on a waltz like dance that the other couples followed in a strange pattern. Maybe this was that official dance Madame Ridge had mentioned. Either way Griffin stared at me as we twirled and danced. "You know," He offered me a toothy smile and tilted his head slightly; "You're doing quite well."

"Thanks." I twirled under his arm and cringed as my body twirled back up against him.

"If I didn't know better, I would have sworn you were the actual princess. You have everyone else fooled. Even Judah."

"I'm not fooling anyone. Jude knows who I am."

"I don't think he does."

"Well he does." I stared into Griffin's eyes and waited for him to whisper back some reply.

"Look, all I know is it is my job to make sure nothing happens to the heir to the throne. And right now that is Prince Judah. So if something is putting him in dangers way, I will not stop until that danger is taken care of."

"You think I'm a danger to Jude??" I had to work hard to keep my shocked and angered voice a whisper.

"I think there is a good chance that you are playing on his emotions for a little girl who died twelve years ago."

"Fuck off." I glared at him and left his hold. The dancers were far too concerned now with their own merriment to pay any attention to me. I took a glass of champagne from one of the tables and drank it a little too quickly. The bubbles burned my nose and throat slightly and forced me to cough. Once the sting went away I grabbed another glass and sipped the beverage a little slower.

How could Griffin say that? How could he think I meant for all this to happen?? I got stuck here! Did he just forget that I wanted to leave originally?! I hated the whole conversation, but I hated the fact that he seemed to have a point when it came to Jude. Jude loved Alexandria. I wasn't her, but maybe to Jude I was the closest he could ever be to his true love. The whole thing seemed sick. I had practically killed this princess and now her fiancé wanted to have a pretend wedding. I set my empty glass down and started to drink another.

"You shouldn't overdue it." Jude looked at me with concern as I finished off my fourth glass.

"You'd do it too."

"Well possibly but I'm pretty sure my tolerance is higher than yours." He reached out and took my half empty glass. "Why don't you try some water? That at least won't give you more of a buzz."

"I had four glasses. No national crisis."

"Not on Earth maybe, but here possibly." It surprised me that Jude seemed so serious as he stared into my eyes. "This isn't the kind of drink they have on Earth. It's… well it's just very potent."

"Ah." I nodded my head and found that I was starting to smile again. There was nothing funny really, but I just felt like smiling.

"You got a nice buzz don't you?"

"Maybe." I whispered back and had to fight a fit of actual giggles that wanted to burst out.

"I see." Jude sighed and patted my arm, "Well then let's get the cake over with and get you out of public."

"Okay." I laughed in spite of myself. It was as if my mind was working at its full potential but the rest of my body had claimed mutiny. What the hell was in the Lenox champagne?

Jude held my hand as we walked closer to the table that now had the attention of the quiet attendees. A few laughs escaped my mouth and Jude tried to pretend he had told me a joke or something. I felt a little bit unsteady as we approached the table that housed a gigantic cake decorated in a prestigious fashion. My hand rested on the table easily at first, but as another fit of giggles started to creep into my system I leaned a little too hard on the table.

A snap was the last thing the room heard as the table leg cracked and the large engagement cake slid forward and collided into Jude and me. By the time I realized what had fully happened Jude and I were now sitting on the floor and covered in frosting and cake. My eyes burned a little from the frosting so I tried in vain to wipe my face free of cake. As I looked to Jude's forehead covered in a smashed frosting flower my laughter came back with a greater intensity. The crowd around started to laugh as well obviously thinking it was okay since I started it. Jude stood up slowly and tried to help me up, but my feet slipped on the tile and frosting causing me to fall and pull Jude back down with me. As the prince lay on top of me I tried my hardest to fight the giggles wanting to escape. It took about five attempts to get both Jude and I standing up right again. Once we were up on our feet Griffin, who looked utterly shocked at the entire incident, tried to usher us out of the room. The crowd around us applauded us as we left the room leaving a trail of frosting behind us.

"Man," Jude held my hand tightly in his as we walked down the hall, "I think Griff wants to kill us."

"I wouldn't doubt it." The very thought of Griffin trying sent me into a small bit of laughter.

"Besides the cake thing, you did pretty well." Jude grinned at me and stopped our procession in the hallway. I watched him with a set of interested eyes and for a moment could see exactly why women seemed to melt in his gaze. Jude was handsome, that much was sure. The boy tilted his head and looked at me with a caring expression, and my mind left me for good.

Before I knew what was happening my hands shot out and grabbed the front of the boy's shirt. I pulled him close to me and found his lips with my own starving ones easily. Jude's body was perfectly still for a few moments, but after the first minute he returned my kiss with an increased passion. The boy backed me up a step or two until my back was against the wall. Jude's right leg rested between mine and offered my sinking body support as we continued to kiss deeply. Everything about this moment seemed so right and powerful, yet at the same time I started to feel a strange lump of guilt in my stomach.

Jude's lips kissed my chin and started to kiss my neck, but slowly I pushed him away. "Jude stop…"

"What's wrong Rogue?" The concern and love in his eyes and voice made my rejection even harder.

"I just…" Why did I want him to stop? Why did I have guilt? This was the one boy in the world who could really touch my skin and kiss me… and he even loved me. Why couldn't I just stay in love with him and live my life here?

"Rogue?" Jude softly stroked my cheek and watched me.

"I'm sorry." I turned my face from him and started too walked towards my room alone, "I just can't do this now."


	22. Sayin' Uncle and Facing Stuff

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

**Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! I love hearing from other people. **

**By the way if any of you awesome readers are any good at drawing I'd love to hear from you. ^ ^ **

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I didn't get much sleep.

Hell, I didn't get _any_ sleep!

Between the various guilt trips, horrible nightmares, and hours of scrubbing dried frosting out of my hair there was no time left to get any decent rest. As I lay on my king size bed, my eyes glanced over to the room's large window. The sunlight was starting to sneak under the thick window covers and warm the floor it touched. "Too soon…" I groaned and rubbed my pounding temples. The mix of powerful Lenox champagne and no sleep had prompted my body to declare mutiny. I touched my slightly damp cheeks and tried to pretend they wouldn't be puffy and red. I never considered myself the type of person who cries, but with my mind swimming in an alcoholic haze the tears had been able to sneak out. I laid on the bed for a while longer and tried to calm my stomach and head by taking slow, deliberate breaths. Once I was almost sure nothing would force its way out of my mouth, I sat up from the bed and went through my normal morning routine.

Due to my current state of mind I didn't care much about my outfit. I merely grabbed a pair of jeans and a long sleeve green shirt. After running a brush over my teeth and twisting my hair up into a messy bun of curls, I left the room with a slow pace. There wasn't a chance in hell that I would rush through the castle today. I was lucky my body was letting me walk in a somewhat straight line! The guards I passed in the halls snuck glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking. There piercing eyes always seemed to focus on my bare feet stepping slowly on the cold tile. I guess it wasn't common for royalty to go barefoot through the castle. But I didn't care either way.

Eleanor was sitting in the kitchen when I walked into the room. She offered me a motherly smile and mouthed, "Hello."

"Hey." I rubbed my temple that was still pounding then started to search for a cup in the multitude of cupboards.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Truthfully."

"Truthfully fine."

"You suck at lying."

"What?"

"Sorry, but it is true Princess."

"Huh…"

"I've known you since the day you were born. And you have always been somewhat easy to read. You may hide how you feel behind your expressions, but you can't hide the most tale tell sign."

"What's that?"

"Your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"Yes. You never seem to realize how much those giant green orbs say."

I thought her words over for a minute or two. Unfortunately, she seemed to have a point. Mystique had always forced me to look her in the eyes when she thought I was lying. And Remy had mentioned something about them the day I let Earth. Thinking about Remy sent a surge of guilt in my queasy stomach, so I tried to change the subject, "I was just thinking about the cake thing. I wasn't really bothered by anything though."

"That's what you were worried about?" Eleanor gave me a motherly smile again and walked to my side, "The press and the party guests were not upset. Griff told them how the table leg snapped due to faulty carpentry."

So that was the old ass' excuse. The look on his face last night had been so stern and bitter that it stuck out clearly through my fuzzy memories. Note to self: Lenox champagne is a bad idea.

"You know what would be fun?"

"What Elle?" I rubbed my slightly throbbing temple and tried to remember where I had left my sunglasses.

"Why don't we go open the presents?"

"Presents?"

"How much did you drink Alex?" Elle laughed at my hangover expression, then started to usher me to the kitchen door. "Come on. It'll be fun."

"I guess…" My sore body followed Eleanor's pushy movements with little grace. I scanned the walls that past us as we grew closer to the throne room and tried to figure out how the people of Lenox thought I was leader material. In order to drown out the overflow of negative images pouring into my mind, I tried to strike up a conversation with Eleanor, "So where did you and Axel get to? I don't remember seeing you at the party. Then again, I don't remember much about the party."

"Oh," Elle blushed softly, "Well we watched you make your entrance, drank, and talked with various leaders."

"And?"

"What?"

"You know what."

"You mean…"

"Don't make me use a royal order to get you to talk Elle." I gave her a tired but good natured smile.

"Ladies don't make out and tell." Eleanor giggled quickly as my face grew somewhat surprised.

"You made out with Axel??"

"Yes. Shhhhh…" She made a shush motion and looked to the guards in front of the throne room door, "Please don't mention it to anyone else though. Ax would probably be completely embarrassed."

I couldn't see Ax getting shy after spending so much time crushing on Eleanor. But just in case, "Alright. I won't tell a soul." I had to keep some friends didn't I?

Elle gave me a soft hug then led the way into the throne room. She stopped quite suddenly once we reached the inside and I ran into her back ungracefully. "Why did you stop?" My temples pounded harder so I rubbed them with more force. Eleanor mumbled something in a low voice that I couldn't understand. "What?" I looked at her head and tried to make out her more urgent mumble, but all I got was "he" "here" "right". My eyes glanced to the right out of habit and caught sight of Jude and Axel watching us from the thrones on the other side of the room.

Crap…

Axel approached us automatically and offered me a bow, but kept his eyes on Eleanor. Elle blushed and offered him a shy smile which he returned. Axel gave me a welcome, but still kept Eleanor in his sight. So they were going to be stubborn about this. "It's good to see you Ax." I watched the man twitch as his eager feet awaited the moment he could spend time with just Eleanor. "Ax why don't you go tell Eleanor what we talked about?"

"What?" He looked at me for the first time and held a very clueless expression. I tried to motion secretively to Eleanor in order to give him a hint that this was a free ride to leave with Elle. The big guy seemed to catch on then and broke into a wide toothy smile, "Of course your majesty." He took Elle's arm like a true gentleman and led her across the room so they could talk in private. The happiness I gained watching the two of them died quickly as I realized Jude was now staring at me from his sitting position on one of the two elegant looking thrones. His sea green eyes felt loving and yet also painful as they scanned my face.

"Are you feeling better?" Jude asked his question with such care my guilt rose to even higher degree.

"Yea… I just have a small hangover."

"I told you not to drink so much."

"Ha ha. You might have mentioned that Lenox champagne packs a punch."

"Alright, I'll take the blame for that."

As much as I wanted to blame someone for everything that went wrong, I knew it wasn't right. "Okay. It ain't your fault."

"Ain't?" Jude chuckled at the word.

"Shut up Jude."

Jude kept laughing and walked closer to my body so he could pat my shoulder softly, "Sorry. It's just hard not to laugh at some of the Earth slang you use. Do all Earthlings say that?" I reached out a fist to punch his gut, but Jude dogged it and stood out of arms reach, "Too slow." He taunted me with a grin and I found myself feeling somewhat relieved. Maybe Jude didn't want to talk about the kiss either. This avoiding the subject idea was definitely the least painful for me, so I was fully ready to go along with it.

"You in a zombie trance?" The prince giggled and stuck out his tongue at me playfully.

"I'll show you zombie." I went after him then and quickly found myself in a game of tag. The throne room was only occupied by Ax, Jude, Eleanor, and me. It was a free place. I finally felt that I could let loose and not worry about being criticized or hurting someone.

Jude ran away from me at an increasing speed that I had trouble keeping up with since my legs were slightly shorter. To compensate my body took up into the air much to Jude's dismay, "No powers!" He yelled at me and let out a laugh, "Unless you _need _them to catch me!"

"I could catch you blindfolded!"

Jude laughed and grinned at me while taking a sharp turn that sent him off in another direction, "Prove it!"

"Fine!" I set my feet back on the ground and once again started to run after the boy.

We continued to run around the room while Ax and Elle watched with amused grins for about ten minutes. Luckily for me Jude had a bit of a trip that left him stalled in one spot for just enough time. I pounced on him and sent the unsuspecting boy to the floor. "Ha! Gotch ya!" Jude laughed hard at my accent and seemed rather amused with the whole game. "Say uncle!" I sat on his back and was jostled as his body shook in laughter.

"W…what?" He managed through laughs.

"Say uncle."

"Why?"

"Loser says uncle."

"Who says?" Jude laughed some more.

"Everyone!"

"No one I know says-"

"Just do it. You lost and now you have to face it."

"You're a cruel dictator you know?" Jude pretended he was terribly upset but chuckled afterwards.

"You haven't seen cruel dictator yet Judie."

Jude chuckled and started to push himself up as if he was going to do some pushups. The movement startled me and left the prince with an opening. I don't know how, but that sly dog managed to twist his body just enough so he was on top of me. I stared into his sea green eyes and saw the annoying shimmer of victory. "Say it." Jude cracked a wide grin.

"No way."

"Say aunt."

"It's uncle!"

"Thank you." Jude grinned widely at me and seemed to find it funny that the realization of what had just happened was slowly coming to me.

"That doesn't count!"

"Does too."

"No it doesn't!"

Jude leaned his head closer to mine and stared into my eyes, "Why not?" I closed my eyes trying hard not to fall under the spell of his bright eyes. There was no way I would let Jude win this!

"Alright you two." Axel's voice came to our wrestling match then and before either of us could say anything he picked up Jude with one hand and set him on his feet. After that he bent down and picked me up with one arm. I was amazed at how easily it was for the giant. He could lift Jude and me like we were light as feathers. Unlike with Jude Axel kept his arm around me and held me a little ways above the ground. "We don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Even Jude?"

Axel chuckled, "Yes, even Jude."

"Fine." I looked at Jude and pretended I was studying him closely, "I guess we could use him as a stable hand if we have to keep him."

"Hey." Jude chuckled, "I thought you liked me more than that."

"Depends on the day."

Axel rolled his eyes as we started one of our play fights. These had been known to go on for quite a while. "You two are so odd." He chuckled and set me back on the ground so I could walk again. Eleanor stood beside Axel and giggled at his comment, "I think they really like each other. In their own twisted sort of way." Jude and I ignored their comments and continued the playful verbal fight for a few more minutes.

After a few minutes of play fighting our group's tranquility was broken by a very rushed looking palace employee. The man was dressed in a uniform decorated with the colors and crest of the Lenox royalty. "Your majesties!" the attendant huffed out as his chest heaved up and down, "There are visitors!"

"Alright." Jude looked at the employee curiously, "Show them in then."

"Well sire… they aren't average visitors."

"Are they village rulers?"

"No sire…"

"Then who are they?"

"They are… Earthlings my lord."

The room went completely silent then as the information started to sink in. If these people really were Earthlings, how did they get here? The stone wasn't working for me so why would it work for them?? Maybe it was a one way stone! They would be stuck here in Lenox just like me then…

"Where are they now?" Jude stood beside me and kept an almost protective arm around my waist.

"The guards brought them to the holding cells. A few of them are rather angry but the one we believe is their leader is talking calmly with the captain of the guards right now."

I couldn't shake the feeling that this Earth arrival was going to be a large deal. From the description the employee gave, I could imagine a few people from Earth who would act like that. But they couldn't have come here could they? The only entrance I knew of to this dimension was not exactly a landmark you could easily find by yourself. So it had to be someone else right? Whoever it was had to be someone who had been here before.

"What would you like us to do with the Earthlings your highness?"

The guard watched me with a serious face covered in wrinkles from years of frowning and squinting. I bit my lip softly and tried to think of what the princess would say. The chance to get an update on what is happening back on Earth would be nice, but would the princess care for Earthlings? She was going to start too, I figured. "I would like to speak with them." Eight eyes stared at me in surprise and curiosity. They seemed shocked that I would want to allow strangers to the land to talk with me. "Could you bring them here?"

"Well…" the guard fumbled on his words, "Technically, yes. But I don't-"

"Then let's do that."

"But your highness-"

"Go ahead." Jude spoke up and held me closer to his side as if I would vanish at any moment. "Bring them here. But keep a large amount of guards near them."

"Thanks Jude." I waited until the old employee had left to tell the others the new orders before questioning Jude's clingy behavior, "Are you okay Jude?"

"Promise me."

"What?"

"Promise me, you won't do anything reckless or dangerous."

"Oh please Jude. I'm practically indestructible. I don't think whatever Earthlings are here can hurt me."

"Nevertheless."

"Alright," I sighed and shook my head, "I promise to be good. Happy?"

"Close." He grinned at me but his warm eyes were filled with worry.

By the time the Earthlings had reached the outside of the throne room, I was ready to snap. Axel, Jude, and even Eleanor had been arguing for over twelve minutes about the best protection plan for me. The way they talked I figured there was going to be a fight no matter what the Earth people did. Hell, my so called friends would probably be too busy in their own squabbles to notice the Earthlings at all. The employee from before, who I had learned from Jude was named Onslow, interrupted the feuding by announcing the presence of the Earthlings.

What marched through the door next sent my stomach into a powerful whirl and made my heart flutter at such a rapid pace I swore the whole room could hear it. I rubbed my eyes repeatedly trying to figure out if what I was seeing was real or merely an illusion brought on by sleepless nights. But no matter how hard I rubbed my eyes, the figures stayed in front of me with expressions that seemed just as shocked as my own.

"Rogue! You're like okay!" Kitty smiled at me and left her position beside the other X-men so she could run to me. The valley girl got about five inches from the group before Axel scooped me up in his arms, Elle seemed to fabricate a lavender force field like protection around us, and Jude merely stared at the x-men. I didn't realize what Jude was doing till Jean and a few of the others started to have trouble breathing.

"Jude stop that!" I yelled at the boy and waited for him to stop messing with the air in the room.

"They wanted to attack you." He growled in a serious tone.

I sighed softly and rubbed my temples, "No. They just missed me."

"Missed you?" The words came out in a confused tone that proved Jude still didn't get it.

"It's a long story." I sighed again and looked to Axel and Eleanor, "Relax. They are safe."

"Alright…" Axel set me on the floor and watched Kitty stare in amazement at how big he really was. "But I have my eye on you." He stated the words to Kitty in a serious almost fatherly tone that seemed quite silly to me. What could Kitty do to hurt me?

Eleanor was the last to give in and take down her powers. Once she was standing in a neutral stance again I gave her an order, "Eleanor please take the guards back to their posts. I wish to talk to the Earthlings in private." The girl looked at me with a weary expression, but trusted me enough to usher all of the guards out of the room.

I couldn't pay attention to the guards' departure though. For as I stood on the floor beside the elegant thrones, I found myself being watched. Though I never thought it would happen, I was now directly between a pair of deep red orbs and playful sea green orbs.


	23. Dinner with a side of annoyance

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own minor characters of my own creation.**

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Ten minutes after the guards left the throne room, everyone was still standing in frozen positions. A soft sound floated through the room alerting each occupant that the others were breathing in equally shallow manners. It was rather annoying to stand beside Jude and Axel while a few of the x-men shyly looked me up and down. Did they think I just looked to odd for words? The guys kept staring at me with such intensity that I shivered slightly. Why were they staring anyway? I didn't think my sweater and pant combo looked _that_ bad.

"Hello." Jude spoke up finally and kept an expression I had seen on his face only during council meetings. "I am Prince Judah and this is the Lenox Kingdom. I assume you know the princess… er… Rogue?" He motioned towards me and Kurt snorted a soft giggle, which earned him a stern look from the Professor and Storm.

"It is wonderful to meet you." The Professor nodded his head in a little bow to show respect to the dimension's ruler. "My name is Charles Xavier, and these are the x-men. Rogue is a member of our team."

"I see." Jude thought the words over carefully and waited a few moments before asking, "What are the other's names?"

"I'm Jean Grey," Jean began to point out various members of the x-men group as she spoke their name, "This is Kitty Pryde, Scott Summers, Kurt Wagner, Ororo Munroe, Logan, Hank McCoy, and Remy." At the sound of his name, Remy spared an uninterested glance at Jean. He did not care what she said or did. I could see it in his deep ember eyes; he was merely waiting to talk with me.

"Umm…" Kitty spoke up slowly and looked to me, "Who is he?"

I looked towards the person she was curious about and found Axel staring at me with a look that practically screamed, big brother the protector. The big lug was a bit over the top, but at the same time, I had almost grown used to him being everywhere I went. He was a pretty good listener and that was the best type of friend I had found in Lenox so far. "This is Axel," I looked up to Axel, "You don't have to worry Ax. I promise they are not a threat." Well Remy might be, but that was another story. Besides, Axel did not need to know about my messy past.

Before Kitty could respond to my explanation, the door to the throne room opened and shut very quickly. I expected to see a nervous guard standing in front of the door, or maybe a worried Eleanor. Of course, my luck was not good enough to earn a simple guest that I could dismiss easily. As my eyes looked to the large door, I discovered it was the one old woman who thought I was terrifying; Jean's Grammy…

The old woman walked up to Jude and me with a surprisingly speedy pace that seemed far too fast for a woman her age. Her blue eyes stared at me with a strange mix of relief and hope that I couldn't understand for the life of me. Didn't this lady think I was the big bad wolf or something? The grandma stopped about a foot or two away from Jude and I and then gave me, then Jude a curtsy like motion. I couldn't believe that psycho granny was now giving me some type of royal recognition. Did she think I was a princess too?! What the hell was going on here?!

"Elizabeth!" Jude smiled happily and kissed the older woman's hand in his usual gentleman like fashion. "I can't believe it is really you under there."

The woman laughed and nodded her head, "It's wonderful to see you as well Prince Jude."

So they knew each other?! How? Why? When?! Didn't anyone want to make sense today?! "Okay, that's it." I rubbed my temple and forced myself to continue speaking even though every eye in the room was staring at me, "What the hell is going on here?!"

"Well your highness," Elizabeth looked slightly taken aback as I stared in annoyed confusion at her and Jude, "I thought you knew by now."

"Knew what??"

"That I was from Lenox."

"How was I supposed to know that?!"

"Well," She offered me a slightly embarrassed grin, "I assumed after you left that you had probably found your way here and explained your side of the story to the Prince."

"Wait, wait, so you're from here." I pointed at Elizabeth who nodded yes happily. "Then Jean is from here?"

"No, you're Highness."

"You know what forget it!" I groaned and rubbed my pounding temples harder. Everyone knew that you were not supposed to solve confusing family logic while you have a hangover. It was right up there with don't chase a ball into traffic.

"Didn't you tell her anything?" Elizabeth looked to Jude with a surprised expression.

"It was hard to find any time to do so." Jude admitted, "She doesn't sit still for very long."

"Hey!" I gave Jude an annoyed glare.

"Excuse me," Professor X cleared his throat amidst the chaos and looked at Elizabeth and Jude, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, why don't you inform Rogue and the x-men now? I'm certain they would all love to hear some more information on Lenox after the tidbits told them."

"Yes," Jude nodded his head toward the Professor and offered him a diplomatic smile, "We will tell all of you over dinner. I am sure you must be hungry after traveling through the dimensions."

"That sounds really good right now." Scott smiled at the Prince as the rest of the x-men murmured their agreements.

So now, we had a dinner party planned… Great.

My luck must have been improving somehow, because I managed to avoid standing or even looking at Remy as we walked towards the kitchen and took seats around the large dining room table. Then again, my turn of good luck might have had something to do with the fact that the x-girls were rather taken by the glitter and glam of the castle. Funny how the people who actually wanted the princess gig never seemed to get it….

"Now," Jude sat at the head of the table, with me to his direct right, "If it wouldn't be a problem, I was wondering what exactly you had been told about the Lenox dimension."

Scott, who seemed rather unnerved as he sat between the famished Kurt and Logan, took the question, "Not much, you're uh highness. Jean's grandmother told us that it was separate from our world and that it was probably were Rogue went."

"I don't get it though," Kitty pushed her food around her plate slowly as she spoke, "It seems kinda odd that Rogue would like run off to some secret place. I mean even the professor didn't know about it. And he has known Rogue, for like a long time."

"Well I wasn't completely sure," Elizabeth spoke up from the other side of Jude. She took a sip from her champagne glass then addressed the group again, "I really hadn't thought it was possible since I talked to Remy."

Remy? My ears perked up and I found myself having to strain to not stare at the handsome Cajun.

"Remy told me about that incident where Rogue had been beaten. I had thought it was merely an attacker at first, until Remy mentioned that she kept demanding it was two clones of herself. That was really what tipped me off that she was the actual princess."

"Wait," Jude looked at me with shocked eyes, "You were attacked by Clones??"

"Yea… a long time ago.." I stared at my plate trying to avoid starting any sort of conflict.

"And you never thought to mention that?! Don't you remember what I told you about the one enemy of the Lenox?!"

"You mean the morphs?" Elizabeth gasped slightly at my words. Causing a bit of guilt to fester in my gut.

"Yes." Jude looked at me with a mixture of shock and worry, "You never mentioned that you were attacked on Earth by what sounds a great deal like a morph."

"It was two." Kitty pipped up in her cheerful voice.

"Not helping…" I hissed.

"Two?!" Jude sighed and fell back into his normal attitude that seemed to be a mix between best friend and protective older brother.

"It wasn't that big of a deal, nothing happened."

"Ve had to give her some of Logan's healing power." Kurt added.

I glared at the two mutants who promptly turned their eyes away from me in order to avoid my glare, "I don't need your help on this."

"Looks like I do though," Jude spoke up and looked at me with troubled eyes, "Apperently it is the only way I'm ever going to get any answers."

I frowned and stood up from the table, "It doesn't matter!" The x-men and Lenox natives watched my temper flare as if was a common event. "So I had some issues on Earth. I'm in Lenox now and it doesn't matter!" With my point stated, I turned around and started to mach out of the dinning room. Though my exit started as dramatic and serious, the world didn't let it end that way. I'm not sure how I missed it but somehow as I stormed away from the dining room, I ended up under a rather large chandelier.

The whole event happened rather fast. One minute I was walking across the floor, and the next I was covered in shards of glass and crystal. "Damn it," I groaned and tried to free myself from the pile of bright gems. "What the fuck kind of luck is this??"

Jude was the first one to shoot out of the door to the kitchen and reach my side. The young man gasped and immediately started asking me a million questions as he helped me up from the floor. "Are you alright?" He brushed some glass off of me as the x-men came busting through the door with the same amount of speed Jude had.

"The whole practically invincible thing is hard for you to grasp isn't it?" I coughed slightly as the my chest started to grasp the concept of breathing again. Who knew a falling chandelier could knock the wind out of someone with my strength? "I can't believe it fell though."

"Looks like someone helped it fall," Logan grumbled under his breath as he examined the end of the cord that was supposed to be holding the giant fixture to the ceiling. "This has been sliced pretty damn well."

"Oh man," Kitty started to fret and looked at me and then Jude with giant blue eyes, "But why would someone cut it?"

"Morphs…" Elizabeth spoke up slowly and came to stand next to Jude, "The news has bound to have reached the radicals be now."

"She has only been in this Lenox place for about four days. Could that many people really know about her?" Scott tried to play ever vigilant leader, by adding in his two cents to the serious discussion.

"What are you talking 'bout Scott?" I shook my head, "I've been here for about a month and a half. It's been weeks."

"Not on Earth," Elizabeth piped up and looked at the entire group, "Time passes differently in the two dimensions. I believe it equals out to one Earth day equals around three Lenox days."

So that was why they hadn't come sooner. My mind tried to calculate the fact that I had only missed about three days of life on Earth. The entire thing was screwed up. I wonder if that was why most people hide the entrances to other dimensions. No one wants to go through the headache of reorienting themselves to the dimensions time policy. "So what," I looked to Jude, "Does this mean the Morphs are in the Kurt?"

"Vhat?"

"Not you Kurt."

"Well," Jude sighed softly and scratched the back of his head, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions just yet. But it would be best to have your room guarded and the palace swept for any kind of signs or abnormalities."

"I can help ya with that." Logan stood up and flexed his claws some, to prove he was more then ready to attack someone.

"Thank you." Jude offered him a kind smile, "Any help that you may be able to offer is welcomed."

"And Jean and I can stay with Rogue!" Kitty grinned happily and hugged my arm with her own covered arms, "It will be like a slumber party." Jean smiled at Kitty's enthusiasm and nodded her head gently, "If any trouble comes we can help her out and alert you."

As the group started to make plans for guarding me, I began to feel like a three year old. No matter what I said, they were going to tell me that it was for my own good to be watched. By the time Jude and the professor started to discuss room situations and guard details, I found myself studying a certain Cajun as he played absentmindedly with a deck of cards. While most people would assume he was ignoring the situation, I knew better. Remy's keen ears were dissecting each word that came out of the x-men or Jude's mouths.

By the time the plans had been finalized and Kitty was bouncing up and down with excitement that she got to see a princess room, Remy had already turned his back to me. I watched him for a moment or two longer, then led my small party consisting of Kitty, Axel, and Jean to my room. Maybe the king of hearts had actually tired of me….


	24. Breaking into Boy Teams

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men, but I do own characters of my own creation. **

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Ten minutes, three guilt trips, and a very long explanation of my adventures in Lenox later, I found myself sitting on the edge of my bed while a gloved Kitty played with my unruly curls and Jean explored my closet. The girls had been fascinated by my 'chamber' as Axel and Eleanor called the room. I couldn't blame them for being shocked. The room had shocked me when I first saw it too, but now there were too many things on my mind to think about the giant room surrounding me.

"It's like so romantic!" Kitty squealed and tried to style my mane of hair, "You're just like a D-"

"If you say Disney Princess, I can't be held responsible for my actions."

"Fine." Kitty blew off the threat and continued to work with my hair.

"Even you have to admit it is like a fairy tale Rogue." Jean added her own two cents in as she finally left my closet. "You get swept away to some uncharted land, meet a charming prince, and become the long lost princess."

"That's nothing like what happened." I furrowed my brow as the red head sat on a chair near my bed, "Weren't you listening? I got here because of falling on a rock while exhausted, I almost got killed since they thought I was a thief, and now I'm told my whole life is planned out for me without my consent, if it even is my life."

"At least he loves you." Kitty let my hair go and sat down beside me on the bed.

"What?"

"He loves you. I can like tell."

"Jude doesn't love me Kitty."

"Remy is the one that really loves her." Jean added her opinion again and looked at me, "He was there first."

"The Cajun?" I looked at the two girls as they started a small argument over which boy was the better match. "I don't get it. Jean your supporting Remy?"

"Yes."

"And kitty you like Jude?"

"Like of course."

"Odd…."

"Why is that odd?" Jean watched me leave the bed and walk over to my dresser.

"It's just that… I figured… well think about it like this, Jude is a more respectable leader type of guy. He has a lot of traits Scott has, so why not support him Jean?"

"Well," The young woman tapped her chin softly, "I guess I just can't see you with him. Sure he has a lot of similar qualities to Scott, but you seem to mesh so much better with Remy. It's like you two were made for each other."

"No way," Kitty shook her head and got up to stand next to me, "Jude is so the better choice."

"Jude?" I rolled my eyes, "You have always been a fan of Remy. Why change your mind now?" Kitty had spent many nights in the mansion back on Earth, explaining to me that Remy was the greatest romantic of all time, and that he really meant everything he told me.

"I do like Remy," Kitty answered while pulling off her gloves, "but it seems like Jude is kinda your destiny."

"Destiny?"

"Yea, think about it Rogue. It has all been coincidences that brought you here. So fate must have gotten you here for some reason. And I think that reason has sea green eyes."

A sigh escaped my lips as I looked at the two women. Why did my love life matter anyway? Couldn't it just be enough that I admitted I didn't hate the boys? Why did everyone want me to pick a guy and become all romantic and junk?? "I think we have talked enough about me." The girls didn't fight my subject change.

"Well what do you want to talk about then?" Jean and Kitty sat on my large bed and seemed to enjoy the comfort the item gave them.

"Well first off, what exactly is up with the Grandma?"

"Well, after you had been gone for a day and a half, I was supposed to head out with my grandmother for the winter holidays. I guess you must have made quite an impression on her. Cause when she found out that we were searching for you, she began asking tons of questions that no one understood."

"Yea, she kept asking about, like threats or other stuff like that."

"But it was Remy who convinced her that there was definitely something going on."

"Remy?"

"He never stopped searching for you." Jean leaned against the headboard of my bed and watched me with soft eyes, "He never said anything to us. But we all knew he was searching for you."

"Oh…"

"And then when Jean's grandma got worried about you, Remy started to talk to her about everything that had happened after you got attacked in the forest. After that we all headed out for what Jean's grandma called a tel…"

"Teleportation stone."

"Yea, that's it." Kitty smiled at me for the help. "But anyway, she led us to the stone and next thing we knew, we were being taken to the palace by a large group of guards."

"And that's all you know?"

"We wouldn't hide anything from you Rogue." Jean stared at me curiously.

A knock on the door alerted our group that we had a visitor. "Come in," I mumbled and sat down on the small cushion like seat at foot of my bed.

"Excuse me ladies," Storm came into the room with a smile on her face, "I was wondering if I could borrow Jean and Kitty for a moment. I wanted to show them their rooms."

"We get to stay in the castle!" Kitty squealed happily and raced to the door with such energy that the guards posted outside took a step back from her. Jean followed in a more mature fashion and looked to me as she reached the door, "Don't you want to come Rogue?"

"Oh no," I shook my head softly; "you guys have fun. I'll see you later."

The room grew quiet as Kitty and the other two girls left only the guards outside my door. It had been a long time since I felt so confused and nervous. But what was there to be nervous about? I could defeat a morph, if that situation came up. All they had was the ability to shape shift and use super strength. They wouldn't be any match for me. As my mind tried to imagine winning a possible battle, I started to realize I wasn't scared of the morphs or an enemy in general. The only thing I was really scared of was facing Remy and Jude.

A soft sound reached my ears and I turned my head to look at the other side of the room. No more than a minute after that simple head turn, I felt a warm breath on my neck creating goose bumps and a slight shiver or two in my body. "I was wondering when you would come…" The words caught in my chest along with my breath as I turned around and found myself face to face with the mysteriously silent red eyed Cajun.


	25. A Suave Pauper aka The Cajun

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men, but I do own characters of my own creation. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers! I really appreciate all the attention all the readers give my story. ^ ^ **

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The silence that surrounded the room weighed heavily on my chest, making it hard to simply breathe let alone think. Remy didn't make it any easier by standing as still as a statue in front of me with a blank look on his face. His bright red eyes watched me with such deep emotions that I felt a nauseous wave of guilt run through my stomach.

"I," my brain continued to run in slow motion as a few words began to fall out of my mouth, "I didn't mean to upset anyone. I just had to know. I had to know why the hell people were screaming in my head and why every power I had absorbed wanted to explode or burst out of me. I just, I had to figure some things out-"

Remy moved forward suddenly, and cupped my chin in his gloved hand. I stared into his eyes as his thumb stroked my cheek gently. The Cajun wiped out a small handkerchief sized cloth, and before I knew what was going on, he placed the item over my lips delicately and suddenly placed his own over the fabric in a passionately forceful manner.

The shock of the kiss left my body in a somewhat limp state, until Remy finally pulled back and I crumpled onto the edge of my bed. As I sat in shock and surprise, my strength started to come flooding back to my legs. With a sudden bolt of energy, I stood up on my feet and stared at the Cajun as he placed the cloth back into his pocket. How dare he?! After everything that happened?! Why would he pull a stunt like that now?!

The emotions started to swirl inside my mind as Remy once again stood still and watched me. "Did you really look?" I whispered out the words and forced myself to watch his face for any sign of deceit.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Remy sighed softly and ran a hand through his untamed hair, "You really can't see it Cherie?"

"See what?" I had no clue why my words came out so stressed. Maybe I was too busy worrying about everything going on around me, to care about how my tone sounded.

Remy approached me slowly and only stopped when I landed on the bed because I was trying to back away. "How many times do I have to tell you?" He offered me a crooked grin and tilted his head to match the angle, "I care about you Rogue."

"Yea right..."

Remy caught my chin again in his hand and looked into my eyes, "It's the truth mon Cherie." He let go of my chin as a sour look began to grow on my face, but did not step back from me, "After everything that had been going on with you, I had to try and find you." He held up a finger and wagged it playfully in front of my face, "And Remy didn't do too bad it seems."

"Oh great, we are back to third person land." I crawled away from the uncomfortable position and stood on the other side of my bed. The chills his body gave me were unnerving and made my mind swoon into a place that I couldn't think in. If I was going to face Remy, I would need all of my wits about me, and with him trying to act charming it was going to take a lot of effort.

"You have to admit Cherie, Remy had a right to be worried."

"What's that supposed to mean??"

"You barley got out of the medical ward, and then you sneak off-"

"I did not sneak off!" It seemed like a cowardly insult to imagine myself sneaking away instead of just boldly leaving. Even if that was what actually happened…

"Cherie you pulled off a rather good escape you know." Remy tapped his chin as if he was thinking on how to critique my work, "Waiting until no one was around and leaving no trail behind you. That's classic thief skills right there."

"I am no thief Remy LeBeau!"

"Course not." He scoffed and played with a card from his pocket, "That would take years of training and skill. But it is a good start." He grinned that annoyingly crooked grin of his and watched me with amused eyes.

"Shut up." I growled at him and watched as his expression grew more serious.

"Always got that fiery temper eh?"

"If I have a temper it's because of the people that follow me like some damn lonely dog."

"Remy only here to make sure you alright Cherie."

"Well for your information, I am fine. And I don't need a babysitter. I'm a grown woman; I can look out for myself!"

"Oh yes," Remy rolled his eyes slightly and seemed to grow a tad annoyed, "You've proven that so far."

Why the hell did ever boy I meet give me that damn line?! Over the past years I had managed to take care of myself with little trouble. Okay, so there was some apocalyptic stuff, but that could have happened to anyone. "The only person I would ever need protection from is you anyway."

"What makes you say that?" He looked at me with curious eyes and offered one more of his classic lines, "Cause you're afraid of the animal magnetism between us, no?"

"Don't make me slap that mouth of yours clear off your face Remy LeBeau." The grumbled threat was met with a sly grin. I walked closer to him and poked his chest roughly, "You're the one who kidnapped me the first time. Or have you conveniently forgotten that mess?"

Remy's look grew slightly more serious as he watched me try and keep a convincing glare. The young man waited for a moment, then took my hand in his two and stared into my eyes, "That is nothin' like this Cherie."

"Oh please Remy." I jerked my hand from his grasp and turned my back to him. I wasn't sure why I felt this anger in my gut. All I knew was as long as I kept myself angry, I wouldn't have to address the more strange emotions he gave me. As long as I could just keep a strong resentment towards the smooth talking thief, I would be okay.

Remy had other plans though…

The tall boy slinked his arms around my waist and pulled me to his chest with one gentle movement. My body shivered as he leaned down and rested his forehead on top of my head. "When you were lying in the medical unit," He whispered the words into my hair as if he believed they would stick in my head better that way, "You kept mumbling about things and lettin' out these whimpers."

Everything in my body told me I should push him away and keep my hollow anger up as a barrier. But my mind couldn't convince my body to move. As I stood there in Remy's warm embrace, my legs once again started to feel slightly numb. I tried to take in a deep breath but all I could smell was the damn Cajun's musky cologne. God, I hated the strange power he held over me.

"You kept asking for someone to save you." Remy moved his face down so he could whisper into my ear, "It was truly heartbreakin' Cherie."

"Well sorry for breakin' ya," I felt my own accent start to slip into the conversation as I lost control of my thought process.

Remy hugged me tighter and buried his head into my thick brow curls, "No need for an apology mon petite. Remy already fixed everything."

"What? Wait, what did you fix Cajun?"

Remy chuckled softly and turned me around so that we were chest to chest, "Remy fixed his problem."

"Problem?" If there was anything worse than a flirty Cajun, it was a vague one.

"After seeing you so crushed, Remy began to think about how much he hated to see such a belle femme en tellement douleur."

"In English?"

Remy chuckled and tilted his head down to mine so he could stare me in the eyes, "What Remy means is, he made himself a promise."

"What kind of promise?"

"He promised himself that he would make sure his Cherie never had to go through pain again."

I stared at him in slight confusion and curiosity. So Remy wanted to promise to be there to cheer me up now? As far as I could figure, he and Jude must be sharing ideas or maybe I just brought that out in guys. "Let's be realistic here Remy."

"Remy always is," He winked at me and still held me close.

"You can't promise to stay with me and be some kind of cheer up man."

"Pourquoi pas?"

I knew enough French and enough about Remy to gauge what he said, "Because you are going to have to go back with the x-men. You have to go back to Earth."

"So do you Cherie."

"Actually…." I sighed and pulled from his grasp finally, "I'm not going back to Earth."

"What?"

"I thought you understood Remy. I'm staying here… I, well, I have commitments here."

"The princess thing?"

"Yes," I sighed and looked at him with an honest expression, "Between you and me, I don't know if I am even the girl they think I am, but I owe them too much not to help out by taking the role."

"What about what you owe yourself?"

"What?"

"Don't you think that after all you been through, you deserve some kind of good fortune?"

"Hey," I tried to protest, "Most girls dream about being a princess. Isn't that good luck?"

"For those who dream of that kind of thing it is."

"What makes you think I don't dream about it?"

"Remy knows his Rogue."

"First off, I ain't your Rogue." I poked his chest again, "and second I doubt you know anything about what I dream."

Remy smirked, "Remy knows you want to be a writer of everything from songs to novels."

"How do you know that Cajun?" I was slightly taken aback by his answer.

"You get A's in English, tutor the mansion students who beg long enough, you keep a journal, and you have an interesting collection of spirals under your bed."

"Remy how do you know that?!"

He winked at me and dangled one of the pocket sized notebooks I had thought was still hidden under my bed back in Earth, "A little detective work goes a long way, Cherie."

"Remy LeBeau you were snooping in my room!!"

The boy chuckled and dodged my attempts to punch him. As I kept trying to smack the damn Cajun, he managed to avoid being cornered. In fact, Remy managed to not only avoid being cornered, but he also wiggled his way around so that we were moving in pointless circles. If I ever got a hold of the man responsible for his dodging skills, I'd beat him senseless.

"Too slow, petite." Remy taunted me and offered one more wink, before I lost my patience and just flew at him. We collided rather quickly and landed on the floor, as a mass of tangled limbs. "If you had told Remy you wanted to snuggle, he would have given in earlier." Remy grinned and turned his body so he was laying on top of me instead of beside me.

"Either you get off in five seconds, or the I throw your ass into the wall."

"Aw Cherie that is so cold." He tried to move off of me, but found a button on his jacket was snagged in my sweater. "Looks like fate wants us together." He grinned widely and made no effort to untangle our clothing. I started to work on the button, but had little luck. My efficiency was cut even lower since Remy merely laid on top of me grinning. "Seems strange," Remy spoke aloud and watched me work with annoyance yet care, "You must be enjoying this little snuggle."

"Hell no." I hissed at him and kept fumbling with the button and fabrics.

Remy chuckled, "Well the Rogue I know would just rip it off, but you seem to _want_ the slow route."

"If I could afford to replace this sweater, you would already be laying on the ground unconscious." I grumbled the words out as the button started to grow more tangled due to my movements, "I'll just have to beat your ass in a few minutes."

"Already bringing up the sexy talk eh?"

I furrowed my brow and used my strength to push the Cajun over so I was on the top and he was on the bottom. Amazingly the button and sweater remained combined. "Just shut up Cajun!" I began to work more quicker at the button problem, while images of beating the grin right off the Cajun flooded my mind.

"Remy thinks of other things," He grinned and took advantage of the fact I was leaning down, by wrapping his arms around me and pulling me towards him. "But they always seem to leave him when he thinks about you."

"Let go Remy!" I pulled from his grasp but found myself stuck a second time since my locket had twisted into a piece of his hair. "Crap!!" I groaned and now tried to get the jewelry untangled while Remy took the advantage to keep trying to cuddle. "Remy LeBeau I swear if you touch me one more fucking time!"

A loud clearing of the throat interrupted our insanity and I turned my head to see Jude standing in the doorway with a rather interesting look on his face. The young prince looked to me first then to the Cajun who still held me around my middle while our torsos stayed close together and my neck was mere inches above Remy's lips.

"This isn't what you're thinking it is." I tried to defend myself as I finally resorted to ripping the button and sweater apart as well as pulling my locket from Remy's hair, which earned a small grunt of pain from the boy.

Jude shook his head and kept his diplomatic face on as he answered my hollow defense statements, "You don't owe me an explanation." He looked at me, and I could see the large amounts of hurt, anger, and sadness in his eyes. "I should have knocked. I'll talk to you later your majesty." Jude offered me a curt bow like move and left the room in a slow walk as if nothing had happened at all.

"Jude!" I called after the boy as a wave of guilt hit my system, but Remy held onto my wrist and stopped me for a moment. "Let me go Remy, I have to go talk to him."

"Why?" He looked at me and for the first time I could remember in a long time, showed a deep jealousy in his eyes.

"Because he is my fiancé…" I sighed and turned from him before he could demand any more explanation.

Why did this all have to be so complicated? It would have been easier if I could at least say I honestly disliked the boys. Why couldn't Jude be like Griffin and think I was just some kind of stupid Earth brat? Why did he have to care for me? And for that matter, why did I have to care for him as well…. Maybe everything would be easier if I just stuck with the princess story line. But then again, there never was a princess story where the girl had to pick between the suave pauper and the caring prince. Why the heck did I have to be the one to try a new princess story anyway?!

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**Translations- **

**belle femme en tellement douleur – beautiful woman in so much pain**

**Pourquoi pas? – Why not?**


	26. The Strange World of Feelings

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men, but I do own characters of my own creation. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are super awesome-rific! Yes I made that word out of thin air lol XD**

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By the time I caught up with Jude, the boy had already found his way to the throne room and appeared slightly saddened. I couldn't blame him for being upset. Anyone would be slightly disturbed after walking in on a scene like that.

"Jude, it isn't what you think. I just got-"

"Rogue."

"Yes?"

"You don't have to apologize to me."

"But I-"

"You aren't a prisoner here." He said softly and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Princess or not, you still have free choice in what you do. And if you want to do it with him then that is fine." Jude paused a moment then laughed softly, "Poor choice of words huh?"

"I don't get you."

"What? Did I say something confusing?"

I shook my head and tried to understand the boy's attitude, "Shouldn't you be angry or something? I mean wouldn't it be logical for you to be mad or at least a little upset?"

"Do you want me to be mad?"

"Yes." I grumbled a little then added in an exasperated voice, "I mean no. Hell, I don't know!"

"Rogue," Jude placed his hands on my shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze, "It did make me uncomfortable to see… that-"

"So why aren't ya angry??"

He placed his right hand index finger on my lips and waited till I relented and shut my mouth, promising silently to be quiet for a little bit. "Rogue, you may be hot tempered and stubborn," He chuckled as I rolled my eyes at the words, "but nevertheless I think you have a good head on your shoulders."

"Oh…"

"That and if he had done anything to upset you, I would get to see you throw him through a wall." We both laughed a bit at his statement. I couldn't help but think the faint twinkle of mischievousness in Jude's eyes came from his mental image of a beaten Remy. A smile broke out slowly on my face as I imagined the Cajun getting that smug smile slapped off his face.

"You know, you look wonderful in a smile." Jude stroked my cheek softly and caused a small swell of nerves in my chest.

"Don't get all emotional on me now Jude." I swatted his hand away and tried to act reserved again.

"Fine, fine," He chuckled softly then offered me a mysterious smile, "But you better be nice to me or I won't show you the surprise."

"What surprise?" The thought of a girly princess gift was rather unappealing to me.

"Don't be such a stick in the goo Rogue."

"You mean mud?"

"Something like that. Those Earth phrases are so weird."

"You are such an alien." I laughed at the boy as he stuck his tongue out at me.

"Takes one to know one." Jude laughed and grabbed my bare hand, before pulling me along.

It took a good length of time to reach our destination, since the room Jude wanted was down in the depths of the castle. At first I busied myself by counting how many guards we passed in the halls. But I lost count around thirty five or thirty six.

"Alright," Jude smiled and stopped our walk in front of a large wooden door.

"Woo-hoo a big door…"

My sarcastic reply brought out an eye roll from Jude, "If I can't be emotional you can't be snippy."

"Eh," I sighed and pretended to be put out, "I can't make any promises on that."

The prince opened the door and showed me into the large room. I was slightly surprised to find the place covered in various Earth objects that appeared to date from the stone age to the late sixties. "What is this place?" I ran my hand over an old typewriter's keys, then continued to examine the room.

"It's the Earth room. All the stuff that has ever been brought from Earth is placed here."

"Isn't that Amelia Earhart?" I pointed to one of the many portraits hanging on the tall walls.

"Oh yes, she loved that one."

"You _knew_ Amelia Earhart?"

"No, I'm not that old Rogue." Jude chuckled softly and pointed to the corner of the picture, "When she came here ages ago she really hit it off with the Lenox ruler at the time. He convinced her to let him paint her a portrait and once she died, they put it in the Earth room."

"Wow…" I couldn't believe that a mystery that still baffled Earth scientists to this day, could be answered so easily by Jude. As I looked around the room I started to notice just how many lost treasures were in the room. I spotted a few that my History teacher on Earth claimed were destroyed in various natural disasters. If only that man knew every item in our textbook was being kept in a Lenox storage room. He'd probably wet his pants.

Jude held up a record player and examined it curiously, "I don't see why the Earthlings use these. They don't work very well."

"No one uses those anymore." I shook my head and dug through a few other boxes, "Most of this stuff died out in the sixties. Don't you guys have any recent stuff?"

"Well, this stuff was believed to be recent, but now that you shattered that idea, I'd have to say no."

"But I don't get it, you send people to Earth all the time right? Wouldn't someone have noticed that go-go boots had died out?"

Jude shook his head, "Not many people go to Earth. Elizabeth and a few of the other elders go when the need comes, but that is about it."

I had never thought about how much the Lenox residents knew about Earth. I could remember some of the people talking about it being a made up location, but I still believed they knew that it was real. Then again, multiple people claim there is life outside of Earth and they are mocked, so why should this dimension be any different? To these people Earth was just a place to scare children with in campfire stories.

"Rogue?"

"Yeah Jude?" I looked up from the dusty box I had been looking through to see him pulling out a dusty record. The boy blew off some of the dust and used his shirt to clean off the rest, before placing the item gently on the record player. After a few scratch noises, the old speakers started to play a gentle tune. I couldn't recognize it at first, but as the singer began to slowly join the music the song became familiar.

"This is one of my favorite pieces. I've played it for years."

"I know that tune." I stood up and walked closer to him so I could peer down at the spinning record, "It's called I only have eyes for you."

"That's right." Jude smiled at me and adjusted the speaker, "I used to come here as a kid and play this song. Alex used to make me dance with her. She always said she'd punch me if I told anyone though." He smiled dreamily and ran his hand over the record player as if that simple touch brought all the memories flooding back. It was nice to hear a little more about the princess, but it did make me feel slightly uncomfortable.

I knew the song pretty well myself, but I had always believed that it was because of how many movies and commercials had used it. Now though, my mind was starting to tread on dangerous ground as it began to imagine a small girl dancing with Jude. "I like old music." I admitted to Jude who snapped rather quickly out of his day dream, "I think I must be one of the few people my age who do."

"Well then," Jude grinned at me playfully, "if you really like this song you can't resist dancing to it." He held out his hand as an invitation.

"Oh no," I shook my head and stepped back, "I already danced enough for a lifetime."

"Figures," He shook his head and took the needle off the record.

"What figures?"

"You are chicken. Rather surprising since you had so many dance lessons and everything."

"I am not chicken."

"Prove it." Jude smiled as he cornered me in this game of cat and mouse.

"Your pure evil you know that?" I looked behind me and saw no one standing at the door and my nerves calmed slightly. "Alright one dance."

"All it takes is one." He smiled and started the song over.

"What?"

Jude took my hand and smiled down at me as we started to slowly move to the beat of the music.

For the life of me, I don't know how it happened. But as time started to press on one song slowly became two, four, and eventually six. It seemed every time one would end Jude or I would find another record and the whole game started all over again. Somehow along the way we even began resorting to daring each other to dance. Just going along with the song was far too easy. By the time a new one started one of us had been at least triple dog dared. It was stupid and childish, but it was also a blast. A completely random blast.

I lost track of how many songs we had gone through a while later. There were piles of records all over the stone floor that had been played at least twice each. By the time our last record, that required a twist like dance, finished Jude and I were exhausted. We collapsed on the floor amongst the piles of objects and laughed for a few minutes. As our lungs began to ache out of exertion, we quieted down and sat back to back in the room.

"You're pretty good." Jude finally spoke up and leaned his head back so our hair touched. "You were expecting anything else?" I joked back causing his body to move as a few laughs escaped. The room grew quiet again, but this time it was rather comfortable. I had heard of welcomed silence, but I had never experienced something like this before. It was as if neither of us needed to say anything at all.

But the silence began to scare my mind as I realized how vulnerable it could look to an outsider. "Jude,"

"Yes?"

"What was Alex like?"

"Alex? Well," he paused as if he couldn't think of how to word his answer, "She's spunky, sweet, intelligent, kind, stubborn, beautiful." I noticed right off the bat how Jude used the first person when he described Alexandria, but didn't mention it to him. "Why?" Jude waited quietly as I tried to think of an answer for his question.

"I was just curious…" The boy seemed disappointed with my answer, "You really love Alexandria don't you?"

Jude let out a soft sigh and nodded his head, causing our hair to rub gently, "It's hard not to." He admitted slowly as the muscles in his body started to tense up. I could feel his back against mine harden as he thought about the person who obviously meant the most to him.

In all my time in Lenox, I had never thought that hard on how much this all had to hurt Jude. I knew it was selfish, but I was starting to realize just how much I had worried and focused on my life. Jude had lost the love of his life and was prepared to take on major responsibility for the entire Lenox world. Maybe it was pity that made me do it, or maybe it was something else, but as the emotions started to swirl around my head, my body began to enact its own answer. Slowly I turned around and wrapped my arms around the tense boy. Jude's hands softly stroked mine as they stayed clamped around his chest. His head bowed and for the first time I watched his true emotions for Alexandria come out…


	27. Frights and Fights

**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men, but I do own the Lenox dimension and its inhabitants. **

**The last chapter kinda sucked, so I'm hoping this will be a little better. Thanks for giving the story another look after the last chapter everyone. ^^ **

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I lost track of how long I stayed comforting Jude. The time seemed to creep slowly, but I didn't really mind. Jude needed time to vent and I needed time to think everything out and try and figure out my next move.

"Sound the alarm!"

The sudden shout from the hallway startled both Jude and myself. We scrambled up from the stone floor and raced to the door just in time to see the guards running back and forth in a panic. They all looked rather exahusted as if something had been working on their nerves for quite some time. The head guards that ran our way were busy shouting orders to their followers.

"Lock the doors!"

"Search the East wing!"

"Secure the guests!"

Things seemed to be going into complete chaos right in front of my eyes. Jude's brow furrowed slowly and I began to gather the obvious clues about what was going on. We were not alone in the castle, someone much more dangerous then Earthlings were here.

"Wait." Jude stopped one of the frantic guards, "Tell me what happened."

"Morphs Sire." The guard gripped his sword tightly as his eyes glanced nervously around the room. "At least two confirmed, but their leader is still missing."

Jude nodded quickly and sent the guard away with a mere hand gesture. "This is not good." He mumbled the words to himself then looked at me with intense eyes, "We have to get you out of here."

"What? No way! I can help you find the morph."

"No you can't." Jude stared down at me like an older brother, "You are what they want. It be far to dangerous for you to go with the guards and myself. The Morphs are not above using desperate measures to kill you."

I couldn't figure out why a certain group in each dimension I knew wanted to kill me. All I had to do was appear and and someone declared a death threat. Well, they might want me dead but that didn't mean I'd just roll over or worse hide like some whimp. "This isn't the first time I've had to deal with death threats. I'll be fine with you guys."

Before Jude could offer a second opinion, a large pair of arms wrapped around my torso and lifted me off the ground. The prince looked relieved, which alerted me that my captor was Axel. "Let me go Axel." I tried to keep my voice level even though my anger was building.

"It's too dangerous Princess."

"God, I'm indestructible. I don't need to be carried away from a damn search party!"

"Humor us, please." Jude sighed and gave my hand one kind squeeze before turning around, "Get her to safety and keep her there."

I struggled against Axel's hold, but he kept a tight grip on me. "Axel let me go!" The man was already racing to in the opposite direction of the guards and Jude. I didn't recognize the path he took. My main focus was trying to escape his growing hold.

"Axel let go!!"

"Can't your majesty." He took a sharp turn and my head smacked into the edge of the wall. It was at that moment that I realized something was terribly wrong with this picture. "Axel, seriously I'll go with you, just let me go!"

The boy's grip tightened and I began to feel a shocking pain as my bones bended under the growing pressure. I gasped for air as my body began to send millions of pain alerts to my brain. "Axel," I gasped and he held me even tighter, causing a small crack noise to come from my left arm as the bone undoubtedly cracked. The boy gave an eerie chuckle and my brain began to scream that I had to fight back. No matter that he was a person I trusted, this wasn't going to work. I had to stop him before he broke every bone in my body.

I focused my energy enough to force him off his normal footing. He held tight, but my body was forcing itself to fly side to side erratically in order to throw him to the floor. The giant man furrowed his brow and purposefully slammed us into a wall in the long hallway. The throw left me feeling a bit off balance, mainly because my head had left a large dent in the wall.

"Behave yourself Princess." The boy growled the words at me and adjusted his grip so my body was balled up in his arms. He seemed aware of my skin's powers since he made a great effort to position me in the perfect hostage position. Each struggle I made to try and get a skin to skin contact resulted in my body being squeezed to an even tighter level. "Your just dying to get crushed into dust aren't you?!" He was growing angry as I continued to make his escape worse by trying to fly back and forth.

"You think I'd be an easy captive jerk-wad?!" I spat the words out in anger as my arm let out a second sickening crack.

He must have been rather angered by the remarks, because the next thing I knew he slammed my body into the wall and everything became fuzzy. I could feel a warm liquid dripping down my forehead, but I couldn't believe someone actually hit hard enough to make me bleed. How strong was Axel? And for that matter why did he why to kill me all of a sudden?!

In a matter of a few minutes the boy turned into a room I didn't really recognize and tossed me onto the floor like a rag doll. The smooth stones I landed on hurt my already bruised body, but I pushed myself up quickly and looked around the dimly lit room.

All it took was one glance to realize where I was. The old throne room. The death sight of the entire royal family. Well, almost the entire royal family. A sickening realization came over me as I stared across the way and saw Axel with a blood thirsty look in his eyes. He was going to finish what was started all those years ago. He was in it to kill me.

"It's about time Princess." Axel spat out the words and stood blocking the exit with a giant grin on his face, "I'm sure your family misses you. Time to join them."

My brain had to take a moment to comprehend the fact that I was stuck in a life or death battle with Axel. "Come on Axel. You don't want to do this." I felt the professors teachings begin to spill out of my desperate mouth. My brain was stuck on the belief that he must be under some kind of spell or something.

Axel chuckled and stared at me, "I've been waiting for this moment since you came to this dimension. All I needed was the perfect time to get rid of you." His calmness sent a shiver down my spine. He merely watched me like a hunter waiting patiently in his blind. This was a no win situation. He had the room memorized, he knew my powers, and obviously knew that I was having trouble finding the urge to fight him.

"No you haven't." I took a fighting pose gradually in case he lunged and tried to talk him out of this, "Something is wrong with you. You aren't right in your head now."

"Me?" He laughed with a slightly maniacal tone and shook his head, "Oh, no I'm perfectly right. All I need to do is get rid of the last damn Lenox. You got away last time, but there is no way that will happen again."

"Axel," I watched his face twist into a sick grin, right before he leapt from his spot and charged me. My body jumped over his as if we were playing a simple game of leap frog. As soon as I cleared the jump, I shot to the door. I was a mere inch from grasping the doorknob, when Axel grabbed my wrist and flung me back to the other side of the room. I was ready to be thrown this time, so I positioned myself and used the wall as a springboard.

With no advanced planning, I figured it had to be pure luck that I hit Axel right in his gut. I used all of the force I could muster to send him straight into the wall. Axel's back hit the dusty wall and sent out a rather loud crack noise. I thought for sure his spine had broken and he would be down for the count. But as his body began to glow a bright white color, I realized Ax had a few new tricks up his sleeves.

The boy grasped my ankle as his body glowed brighter, and in a manner of six seconds he stood up straight and catapulted me into the opposite wall once more. I hit the wall this time and landed in a painful lump on the floor. My mind couldn't understand why Axel could stand as if nothing was wrong. I picked myself up slowly and watched as he stretched out his back. His clothes were ripped, but his body looked as if he had just come from a spa. There wasn't a scratch on him! How could he do that? As far as I knew Axel had one power, and that was super strength. How could he acquire a new one? It wasn't as if Lenox had a Super Power store.

"How..." I managed to mumble the words out between the coughing fit my lungs were forcing onto me. I could taste blood, but I wasn't sure if it was mine or even where it was coming from if it was mine. Maybe I had grown a little sloppy in my fighting skills. I had never gone up against someone who could match my strength so easily. The only reserve power I had was also a bit of a waste since he seemed well aware of the danger of my skin.

"Impressed ass-wipe?" He chuckled and popped his neck which caused my own sore one to cringe.

"I don't know what happened to you," I shook my head and wiped away the blood that was falling from my forehead into my eyes, "but you aren't the Axel I know."

"God you are dense." He grumbled and stared with anger at me, "Just catching up now Princess?" The tone he used infuriated me.

"Just remember I gave you a chanc-" Axel's body hit mine before I even had a chance to finish my sentence. The boy grabbed my ankles easily and pulled off a maneuver I had only seen in cartoons. He slammed my body back and forth into walls and the floor. My head began to pound as it was smacked at increasing speeds.

Somehow I was able to pull one of my ankles free from his grasp. I twisted my body as much as I could and sent my foot straight into his chest. The boy was thrown against the wall by my kick. I scrambled to get back on my feet, while he tried once more to grab hold of my ankles. It proved fruitless though, as my hands caught his covered ones and we stood locked in a stance that almost looked like a dance.

He used a large deal of force and managed to get my back against the wall. Once he heard the slam of my spine against the wall, his knee came up and hit me right in the gut. Axel looked at me pinned against the wall like a scientist would look at a rare bug pinned to cardboard. "Say hello to your parents for me." He grew a twisted grin and placed his covered hands around my neck.

I can't say how long he kept the pressure on my neck, but I felt lightheaded by the time a bright reddish shape flew at us and hit Axel's back. The man screamed loudly and slumped over me, causing both of our injured bodies to land in a twisted pile on the floor. He was barely breathing when his forehead landed on my neck.

It all came at me like a flash after that. I could hear my own scream and Axel's reach horrifying levels as his persona and thoughts began to invade my mind. I forced my eyes open and was stunned to find my blurry vision was not of Axel. The boy in front of me was many different people. He kept changing shape and color. He drained into my body rather quickly.

As strange as it seems it appears to be a fraction of a bit easier to push someone away, when the person who touched my skin is almost dead. This time was like all the ones before, and I managed to move just enough so that we weren't touching.

I didn't have to study the face now lying beside me to know who it was. Where I had expected to see Axel's pudgy cheeks and thick hair, I saw a very sickly looking Griffin. The man's skin was covered with patches of rough looking blue skin He looked as if he had been through some hell of a transformation. His eyes stared into mine like vacant pools as a line of blood poured from his mouth and fell onto my shoulder. The entire scene left me frozen in place. I felt sore and emotionally drained. All I could do was stare into the vacant eyes of the man almost dead that lay on top of me.

A pair of gentle arms, was the next thing I felt. I didn't have the strength to fight as the arms pulled me up from the floor and offered me a rather comforting hug. I recognized the smell of the Cajun immediately, and felt my body relax almost instantaneously. My head buried into his chest as I finally felt the emotions I had been holding in start to pour out.

Remy's hand stroked my hair and held my head tightly to his chest, before a small crack came into the sound waves of the room. I had a feeling it was Griffin's neck someone in the room had cracked, but I couldn't bring myself to check and make sure. Instead, despite my better judgment, I stayed in Remy's arms and let the silent tears fall.


	28. Author's Note

Dear Readers,

After an extremely long hiatus, I have decided to work on my story once more. I have missed writing about Rogue, Jude, and Remy and think that it would be fun to try my hand at finishing this story. Thank you all for sticking with me during my absence. I hope you like the rest of the story as much as I think you liked the first half. :)

And on a side note, I have been thinking about hiring a beta reader for my story. I have never tried it before, but after looking through my past chapters, I can see that any help on grammar would be wonderful. ^^

There is a pole on my author page for this fan fiction and I would greatly appreciate it, if you guys could find time to submit your answer to the pole.

And last but not least, I thought I would offer a little random trivia lol:

The first mention of alcohol in the story is in chapter 21, which is the legal drinking age for Americans.

The name "Lenox" came from a rather cute basketball player's last name. ;)

Anyway, I'll see you guys soon with a chapter update!


	29. Three Men and an Annoyed Lady

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own the Lenox dimension and all the Lenox World Characters.**

**There is a pole on my author page for this fan fiction and I would greatly appreciate it, if you guys could find time to submit your answer to the pole.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. ^ .^ Please R&R. Thank you! **

* * *

Remy took only a few minutes, to sweep me up into his arms and rush me to the medical wing. Not bad for someone who barley knew his way around the castle. Jude stayed at Remy's heels and offered directions each time the boy came up to a fork in the road. I tried to ignore their rushed voices and focused solely on the steady, if not speedy, beat of Remy's heart. It was hard enough to remain conscious as a new personality explored my mind, I didn't think I could manage conscious and panic stricken.

By the time our group had reassembled at the medical ward, Remy's heart was beating a mile a minute. I wondered for a moment if he always got this worked up. When he laid me on the cold medical table, I could only see the faintest hint of worry in his dark eyes. Maybe Remy felt a lot more then he let anyone know, then again who was I to question how he expressed his emotions. I wasn't doing to hot in that category myself.

Ophelia entered the room looking rather flustered and stared at my injured body. Her small eyes studied my arm with wonder, as she undoubtedly tried to figure out how it had ever gotten bent in such an unnatural position. "Oh my dear," she sighed out the words and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "I'll fix you right up."

_Not that you deserve it_, a voice hissed in my head and brought a stab of pain to my temples. _You should be the one lying in a pool of blood on that floor bitch!_

Ophelia made a soft humming noise as she watched me flinch in pain from the angry voice. "I promise it will be alright dear. Just try and think calming thoughts." She adjusted my arm delicately, and then hovered her hands over my head. "Just close your eyes and breathe deeply Princess."

I followed her directions and closed my eyes. As hard as I tried though, I was unable to relax. In the back of my mind I could still here Griffin taunting me. His voice rose and fell in volume forcing me to pay greater attention if I actually wanted to hear what he said. I felt like it was a long shot, but part of me wondered if he would slip up and tell me who else in the castle was out to get me.

_You little brat_, he hissed the words and started to grow louder with each insult. _I saw your family die you know_, he chuckled maniacally, _one by one they all fell_. _And you too will die a long and painful death, power drained and beaten like each member of your damn bloodline_!

The last insult sent a slight shock through my system. Had he said power drained? How could the Lenox family been power drained? According to Jude they had been beheaded but not drained and beaten. Besides the morphs didn't have that kind of power. Jude had told me they only had the ability to change their looks and use super strength-

_You believe that_? The voice laughed loudly in my head. _You also believed him when he said I was your advisor didn't you_?

_Shut up_! I hissed at Griffin and tried to push his voice out of my head.

_Afraid of the truth_?

_As if I'd believe you_!

_Face it bitch, every time something bad happens he is right there_. The voice grew louder as he sensed my worry. _He lied to you about the marriage, he was the first one there when you got hit by the chandelier, he was the one that __**gave you to**__**me**_.

I hated the fact that my mind began to truly question what Griffin's psyche told me. As much as I hated to admit it, he had a case. Jude did seem to be there when things would go wrong. And he had left out a few important details about the Princess. And he had never mentioned anything about the royals being power drained. Was he keeping that from me?

No, I couldn't think like that. Jude was my friend! He would never hurt or deceive me. Sure we had fought, but he was still a good man. Jude would never have let Griffin carry me off if he had been able to see through the disguise. Right?

_Oh please_! Griffin chuckled so loudly I thought my ears would ring for years to come. _Think about it plucky. He has spent his whole life with Axel and me, you really think he wouldn't be able to tell the real one apart?! It's like explaining something to a fence post_!

"Stop it!" I sat up quickly on the medical table and looked around the room as if I would be able to spot Griffin's body.

"Rogue?" Remy laid a warm hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright chère?"

The old nickname took me by surprise and forced me to look at the Cajun's worried face. Remy's normally confident face was starting to crack and reveal a somewhat scared and nervous look. This truly seemed to be eating at the guy. I tried my best to ease his growing worry by giving him a rather small attempt at a smile.

"I'm fine Remy." After receiving a small nod from the Cajun, I turned my attention to Ophelia who seemed rather surprised I was already feeling the healing effects. "You're done right?" She nodded slowly and watched me slide off the table. "Thanks Ophelia." Another nod was given to me as she watched me stumble towards the door, and then took her own exit out a side door. Though my bones were healed, it would take a minute or two to get used to moving them again.

"Alex?"

I stopped halfway to the door and bit my lip. To be perfectly honest, I should have known Jude wouldn't have let me leave the room without wanting some kind of answer. The Prince was probably feeling pretty bad for sending me off to what turned out to be a trap.

_Unless he knew about it and is just feeling sorry you made it out alive_, Griffin's voice rang out through my mind and caused my own doubt to rise slightly.

"Yes?" I hated how uncertain my voice sounded.

"Wait for me." I could hear his feet shuffle towards me slowly. "You shouldn't be alone after a security breach like that."

"I'll be fine Jude. I'm a big girl."

"That might not be such a bad idea chère." Remy moved quickly to my side and watched me closely. "There has been a bit of mauvaise chance ici (bad luck here)." He laid a hand on my shoulder gently, "Besides you need someone you can trust near you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jude's voice grew quickly in volume as his already hurt ego was hit by Remy's verbal dig.

"Ce qui (what)?" Remy took his hand off my shoulder and stared at Jude. "Do you have a problem?"

"How dare you come in here and insult the security of the castle."

"I didn't insult your security, though it could use a rather large update."

"And what makes you so qualified to make that assumption?"

Remy furrowed his brow slightly and rolled his shoulder's casually. Didn't he know that blowing Jude off would only make him angrier? Was he trying to pick a fight with the Prince? The Cajun in question waited a moment or two then held up his right hand.

"First off Prince," the usually respectful term came off as an insult from Remy. "I was able to get into her room with ease. It was comme voler la sucrerie d'un bébé (like stealing candy from a baby). And tell me," Jude was beginning to grind his teeth slowly as Remy reached the conclusion of his speech. "If you cannot keep out someone who knows so little about this castle, how are you planning on keeping out the true danger?"

"Like you would know that much about security!" Jude snapped and stood on the opposite side of me. "How long did it take you to realize you had run her off? Did your little security expertise tip you off to that too I think not since it took you a hell of a long time to get here!"

Remy made a deep, growl like noise in the back of his throat and stared down Jude. "You shouldn't speak of things you don't understand vous petit gosse (you little brat)."

"Remember where you are," Jude grasped my hand and pulled me towards his side as an almost primal look came into his eyes as he stared down Remy waiting for the boy to respond to the insult thrown his way.

"Take your hands off her!" Remy growled out the words in the most perfect English I had ever heard from him. His hand grasped my covered wrist and pulled me lightly towards his side.

For the first time in my life, I understood what the animal tamers on television meant when they said only one dominant male could live in one location. The macho-headed boys tugged me side to side, like two toddler's fighting over the last cookie. "What is wrong with you people?" I grumbled and tried to get my balance as they continued to pull.

"Let go of her Hick!"

"Don't tempt me brat!"

"Take your best shot!" Jude dropped my hand and curled his fists. "I dare you!"

"Ce sera un plaisir vous battant! (It will be a pleasure beating you!)" Remy let go of my wrist and pulled a card from his sleeve.

"STOP THIS!"

The boys stared at me with slightly agape mouths. Jude blinked and slowly let his fingers uncurl and relax. Remy on the other hand kept his card in hand and merely mumbled, "fichue… (Damn…)."

I furrowed my brow and pointed at Remy first, "You. English and put the card away." The Cajun took a moment, but eventually gave in to my demands. Even Remy had enough sense not to cross me at a moment like this. "And you," I turned to Jude who stared at me like he had just found out I was actually the big bad wolf. "Don't be so touchy. We all made mistakes in security."

_My, my, my_, Griffin chuckled inside my head, _you have worked them into a tizzy haven't you? You're never dull. Dumb as a rock, but never dull_.

_Shut up_, my head began to pound as I tried hard to push Griffin's persona into the back recesses of my mind. The last thing I needed was another man to deal with. "Look," I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I don't need either of you tagging along with me."

"You need someone Rog-"

"Hey," I held up an agitated finger and stared at Jude, "Don't start that again. I'll stay with Logan, Kurt, anybody but you two."

Jude sighed and Remy shifted uncomfortably on his feet. I could tell they were both struggling with some emotions, what those emotions were I did not know. Finally Remy ran a hand through his disheveled hair and let his shoulders slump in defeat. Once again the Cajun proved that he understood when to cross me and when to back off. Jude seemed to be having trouble with the concept though. The boy kept opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to tell me something but didn't know how to say it.

I turned my head away from the boys and tried not to think about the strange feelings this whole conversation was bringing out in me. Part of me wanted to sock them each in the head, and another part of me was almost, dare I admit it, flattered. "You two just calm down. We have to think rationally about this." Before either of them could offer a response, I opened the door and stepped out into the worried public.

The x-men smiled at me brightly and seemed rather happy that I wasn't lying dead on the floor. At least some people didn't want me dead. And though normally I wouldn't condone it, I was willing to accept their worried questions and hugs. At least if I kept my mind occupied, I wouldn't have to deal with Griffin's persona or the angry boys behind me. Besides after an ordeal like that, I definitely needed some mental down time.

_I highly doubt that it in your future_, Griffin laughed in the back of my skull and tried even harder to taunt me. As the evil advisor went to work on giving me a royal headache, the boys in question wandered out awkwardly in the hall and tried their hardest to avoid the x-men's curious gazes. A hurt pride could do a good bit of damage to a guy or girl, and it seemed the suave Cajun and kind Prince were no exception.


	30. Breakfast with a Side of Questions

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own the Lenox dimension and all the Lenox World Characters.**

**There is a pole on my author page for this fan fiction and I would greatly appreciate it, if you guys could find time to submit your answer to the pole.**

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Finding the x-men nervously waiting outside the medical wing was not surprising. Not finding my Lenox friends was. Eleanor stood off to the side as the x-men clustered noisily around me. I was patient as Kitty hugged my waist happily and Kurt squeezed my shoulders. But after a few minutes, I had grown tired of the mushiness and escaped their holds.

"How are you feeling?" Eleanor smiled nervously at me as I approached her. The woman was far to reserved to jump on me like the x-men, but she did offer a warm expression behind her initially jittery gestures.

"I'm good." I nodded my head slowly, ignoring the commotion inside my cranium as the other personas expressed their displeasure with their new roommate. "Where is Ax?"

Elle bit her lip softly and studied my face as if she wasn't sure how I would take the answer.

"Elle, is he okay?"

"He isn't hurt… he is just upset with himself."

"This wasn't his fault."

"I know," Elle nodded and let out a hopeless sounding sigh. "But Ax's pride will not take that answer. He thinks it is his job to protect you… Are you ok?"

I stopped rubbing my temples for a moment and nodded my head, "Yeah, I'm just growing tired of being surrounded by testosterone fueled bodyguards. But it's no big deal. Where is Axel now?"

"He is out on patrol. He has each of the guards running double time."

"Poor souls." I shuddered to think what it would be like to have to report to Axel when he was in a mood like this. "He'll eat 'em alive."

"With his current mood…" Eleanor sighed, "They have a pretty good chance of that happening."

"I'll talk him down. Surely he'll listen to me."

"Good luck Princess, you will need it."

By breakfast the next morning, everyone was still on edge. Remy had skipped breakfast and chosen to wander out into the castle's back garden with a rather large stack of cards. Jude had made some excuse about unfinished paperwork and escaped with a bagel and a cup of coffee. It was the first time since I had arrived in Lenox that we had not eaten, let alone cooked, breakfast together.

Axel had appointed himself, seriously this time, my official bodyguard. He sat on a stiff wooden chair in the corner of the dining room, and watched each window and door as if he was waiting for someone stupid enough to try and attack me. The giant had allowed me to talk with him briefly last night, but he was still showing signs of guilt and self-focused anger. He refused to meet my eyes in even a casual gaze and avoided any looks I sent him by pretending he saw something outside the window.

At least the x-men were talking to me. Then again it didn't seem to be me they were curious about. Though they would never admit it, I knew the x-men didn't trust the Lenox people. It wasn't as if they hated them. No, that wasn't it at all. I think it was more a distrust of the unknown. And the fact that something in this dimension wanted their teammate dead, might have influenced their feelings.

Jude and the other Lenox citizens were not exactly saints either. After last night's fiasco in the old throne room, Jude had announced that each of the visiting x-men would be given a personal guard. Most of the teens had found the gesture rather interesting and the Professor had even thanked the Prince for agreeing to combine their forces to keep everyone safe. Bull Shit. I knew exactly why Jude wanted the x-men to have guards, and it had nothing to do with their safety.

The Prince was worried. He didn't know these Earthlings and figured it was better to be safe than sorry. 'No sense in letting them sneak by security only to find out later that they were actually morphs in disguise', was how he had explained his plan to Axel and Eleanor when he thought I had moved out of hearing range last ngiht. I had felt a little offended, to say the least, by the boy's idea at first. Did he really think I wouldn't have been able to tell my own teammates apart from fakes? I had spent only a few years with the x-men, but I was still pretty sure that I could tell a real one from a morph in disguise. Then again, Jude hadn't been able to tell the morph Axel apart from the real one and he had spent his entire life with the giant man. Unless he knew that it wasn't Axel and sent me with him anyway-

_Stop this_, my mind tried to weed out the thought, _Jude is your friend_.

I gulped down my coffee, and then laid my head down on the cold table top. The collision of my old world and my new world was failing miserably. Neither side would admit it, but they didn't trust each other at all. I guess I should have known better. You can make a cat and a dog live together, but you can't make them get along.

"Those two aren't worth going through that much stress stripes." Logan, the only x-man not busy exploring the castle or sleeping in, set down a copy of the Lenox newspaper he had tried to read and stared at me from his spot across the table.

"What?"

Logan took a sip of his coffee, paused a moment, then set the steaming cup down on the table. His eyes watched me closely as if he was waiting for some sign. Slowly, he began to talk in a gruff voice, "Those two idiots aren't worth putting yourself through this kind of hell."

"You mean Remy and Jude?" Was Logan actually trying to talk to me about relationships?

"Yea," He nodded his head and sank back into his chair. "The damn Swamp Rat and Mister Prep." The last bit was mumbled under his breath with a light growl.

I had nearly forgotten how strangely comforting Logan's grumpy words had always been. The lug had always made me feel like I had someone looking out for me. It was kind of like having a father. A large, uncomfortable lump formed in my throat as thoughts of family entered my mind. Ever since Alex's dreams had entered my mind, I had grown strangely sensitive to the topic of family. Seeing close relatives beheaded in front of your own eyes will do that kind of thing to you, I guess.

_If you really want to stop having those thoughts, you know what you should do_, Griffin's persona chimed in my mind as he sensed my hidden sadness, _You could slice your wrists or try an electric shock if you want to be dramatic about it. Either way, death is the only answer Plucky_.

My face grimaced and Logan watched me closely. "Stripes?" He leaned forward and tried to figure out what was causing me pain by studying my face. "You ok?"

"Yea," I fibbed easily and took slow deliberate breaths. "Just a little tired is all." The good thing about Logan was that even if he didn't believe what you told him, if it was about feelings he would usually let it go without further question. Sure he would go to great lengths to get the information he wanted if it seemed important enough, but he wouldn't normally make someone divulge their feelings. He seemed to hate talking about feelings as much as I did, if not more so. It always seemed funny to me, that Logan was the only person I knew who, like me, saw sharing feelings as a big vulnerability. Emotions gave your enemies something to pick at and torture you over. They were a big fat nuisance… most of the time at least.

_We both know you are a little cry baby inside. Why not show the rest of the world how weak you really are_? Griffin laughed loudly and seemed mighty pleased with his efforts to annoy me.

"So," I tried my best to tune out Griffin's psyche by focusing my attention on Logan. "Where did your new bodyguard go?"

"Bodyguard, yea right…" He grumbled angrily under his breath, sniffed the air once, then jutted his thumb towards the main kitchen door. "Inviso is over there somewhere."

When I turned my head to look, I didn't see a thing. The doorway looked clear and even the shadows on the ground didn't reveal a human form. Had they really given Logan an invisible guard? The person in question began to fade slowly into view and offered me a smile. After he had given me a polite head tip, he faded back out and became invisible once again. The illusion would have been perfect, if the guard hadn't pulled a piece of fruit from the tray by the door and began to quietly chomp away on an apple. It seemed silly to try and keep up the illusion of secrecy, since even the guard seemed to understand he would be no match for Wolverine's nose.

"Yours doesn't talk much." As Logan spoke about him, Axel sat up in his chair and scooted an inch closer to our table. He was still too far away to touch the table, but he seemed happy just being closer to the body he was supposed to guard. I couldn't believe how childish the boy was acting. Didn't he realize that it wasn't his fault Griffin had gotten to me? Even if the boy had of been there, that was no guarantee the situation would have gone any better. Griffin could have changed his disguise or we could have been stuck with two Axels. Wouldn't that have been a sight?

_You still would have wound up in my clutches_. _Jude would have made sure of that_!

"Shut up." I growled.

"Rogue?" Logan starred at me with a bit of worry written into his normally tough features.

"Sorry," I shook my head and tried to breathe slowly again, "I just-"

"He is in there isn't he?" Logan growled under his breath, forcing Axel to ready his body to attack if Logan gave him reason.

"What?" I tried in vain to play dumb.

"That ass-wipe from yesterday."

"Logan," I shrugged my shoulders and tried to look casual by taking a slow sip of my coffee before answering his question. "They're all in there. He makes a bit of a fuss, but I'm used to it. I have dealt with voices before."

Axel stared at me confused and leaned back in his chair. I didn't know for certain, but I was pretty sure he had never faced a problem like this before. Logan seemed ready for the occasion, since he sat up straight and furrowed his brow nervously. I couldn't understand why he seemed to worry so much more now. Then again, he had been a little bit more protective after my infamous power surge on Earth. Surely he wouldn't bring that up though. Right?

"Rogue," His voice dropped to a lower tone and I felt a sense of doom overcome my mind. "Maybe you should see Charles about that. He must be making a pretty big fuss if he is forcing you to cringe like that."

"And you're afraid ah can't control it?" The accent coated question, broke the conversation's slow tone with a large dose of attitude.

"No, I just think you'd be better off without a psychopath in your head." Logan stared me down, but did not look to angry that I had practically spat my question at him.

"I can handle it Logan. The other voices settled down and this one will too. I will make it be quiet."

_You are in over your head little girl_! Griffin cackled in my brain and sent a new bought of pain through my skull.

"I can do this myself," I growled out loud as my head began to pound. I knew the boys around me were probably freaked out by my pain, but I didn't have the strength to assure them that I was okay. Every ounce of strength I had in my body was focused on getting Griffin to shut up once and for all. "I can shut him up myself!"

Almost instantaneously, the screaming voices I had long since forgotten exploded into my mind and joined Griffin's in an unholy chorus of noise. The power of the two tormentors brought me to my knees on the tile floor. But as my pain grew, so did my anger. I began to feel every ounce of anger my brain had ever conjured well up inside my mind, and push me onward. My heart and brain were demanding I stand my ground and fight for my own sanity. I could not let these voices take control of me.

"I'm not going to let you win!" I yelled the out the words as loud as I could and felt a strange sensation of warmth and power explode from my chest.

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**Hope you liked this chapter! Please review! Thanks everyone! **


	31. From Simple Dreams Come Grand Ideas

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own the Lenox dimension and all the Lenox World Characters.**

**Thank you to all the readers out there who are giving my fan fiction some attention.**

**I appreciate you all! ^.^ **

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"_Get up." A small voice reached my ears as I slowly became conscious of the world around me. "Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, Geeeeeettttt uuuupppp!" The voice grew louder as its owner began to chant the order happily. _

"_Leave me alone." I growled at the voice and rubbed my closed eyes._

"_Don't have a pig."_

_My left eye popped open, "What?"_

"_I heard that from an old lady. They say it on Arth." _

"_Earth…"_

_Realization slowly hit me as I sat up straight and found myself staring at a rather happy looking Molly. "Oh no." I groaned the words out pitifully and rubbed my temples. _

"_Oh yes!" Molly chanted and jumped up and down "You finally came back to see me. I missed you." _

"_Yeah…" I sighed and couldn't bring myself to tell her I had landed here by accident. Besides, if memory served correct, I was here because I had passed out in the normal world. Was it really possible that one psyche could knock me out? Then again those damned voices had helped Griffin out quite a bit. So in reality I had been completely out numbered. _

"_Hello," Molly waved a hand in front of my face. "Are you there?"_

"_Yeah, yeah," I nodded my head and stretched out my sore arms. _

"_Good. I was worried that you had left for good last time." The kid wrapped her arms around herself and hugged her thin frame, "It was really scary when that voice came and the lights got all bright and stuff." I nodded my head to prove I was paying attention now. "But that is okay now. Cause now that you are back we can stay together forever. We can be a kind of family!" _

_Molly's last statement sent a sharp pain through my normally rough heart. I had long ago admitted a few truths to myself: _

_**1.**__ Molly was really Princess Alex._

_**2.**__ I had absorbed her sometime in my life._

_**3.**__ I had killed her entire family. _

_But even though I had accepted these truths, that didn't mean I was ready to confess them to Molly. Most of the psyches in my head knew they were pretty much trapped because of my actions, but that didn't seem to be the case with Molly. It was like she had never known I existed before our first meeting in the realms of my subconscious. So how could the other psyches know my personal thoughts and force their desires for items like nicotine through my body, when Molly couldn't even grasp the fact she was just someone stuck in my mind? _

"_What's wrong?" _

"_Hm?"_

"_You look sad." Molly's eyes watered slightly as her five year old pride took a blow. "You don't like it here do you? You don't want to stay with me…" _

"_It's not that," I tried to comfort the girl, since I owed her at least that much. ""I'm just worried." _

"_About what?" The tears started to dry, but she still gave a small sniffle proving the liquid could be called back easily. _

"_I…" My throat felt like it was closing as the anxiety began to grown in my mind. I patted the carpet space next to me, and waited until Molly sat down before I attempted to confess my horrible secrets. "I have something to tell you and I don't think you are going to like it." _

_Molly sat cross legged next to me and kept her wide green eyes on my face. "What is it?"_

"_You remember when we first met and you said that we were in my mind?" She nodded. "Well you see, outside of… here, I have an ability to touch someone and have their memories and special abilities come to me." _

"_So?" Molly didn't catch the connection._

"_So," I took a deep gulp of air and tried to figure out a way to explain this to a five year old. "I think it is because of that ability that you're here. I think I touched you sometime in the real world and you got stuck inside my head." _

"_No," Molly frowned and shook her head side to side. "You're wrong." _

"_Molly I know you don't want to hear this, and I don't blame you-" _

"_You're wrong!" _

"_I think you were a princess named Alexandria in a place called Lenox." _

_Molly turned her back to me and shook her head quickly. "No! You wouldn't do that to me! You're a good person! You wouldn't do that." _

_I sighed and tried to swallow the pain in my throat. "I'm not... I'm not this great person you think I am."_

"_Yes you are!" Molly turned around and stared at me with wet eyes that held a desperate hope. "You are a hero!" _

"_I'm a murderer!" My emotions blurted out the words before my common sense could nix the idea. _

"_What?"_

"_I killed your… your family." Tears threatened to burst from my eyes as I waited for the small child before me to scream and yell all sorts of degrading things at me. I deserved to be called anything this orphan wanted to call me after what I did to her life. _

"_What?" Molly's voice was eerily calm. _

"_I…" my voice shook so hard I had trouble forming an answer. "I pulled the king, queen, and their kids' necks and… well, I… I created the scene in your pictures."_

"_Those aren't royal people."_

"_What?" I couldn't believe what my ears thought they heard. Surely it was just my imagination playing a cruel trick. _

_Molly stood up and grabbed her pictures from the little plastic table in the center of the room. She kneeled in front of me and held up the picture of the beheaded people with one hand and pointed at the bodies with her other hand. "See?" She pointed to the bodies in turn. "They aren't royal people."_

"_Molly, those are the same people in the other drawings. That's the King, Queen, and their kids."_

"_No." She grumbled and rolled her eyes as if I had said something to stupid to even acknowledge. "These guys," she pointed to the blue stick figures, "can change what they look like. They made their other blue friends change into those people, and then they killed them. The real ones got taken away with some other blue guys." _

"_Wait, wait," I was having trouble wrapping my mind around this idea. "Are you trying to say that the real people lived?"_

"_Only blue people got killed. The real ones left."_

_I couldn't believe this. If what this little girl said was true, then the royal family was alive. Well, they at least had a better chance of being alive. And if the Lenox family was really alive, they could take back the throne and bring Lenox back to its old glory days! Not to mention the fact it meant, I wasn't a murderer. Then again, I still had the princess blood on my hands. But aside from that, I was clean of any Lenox blood on my hands. _

"_That proves it," I rubbed my eyes and let a small laugh of relief escape my mouth. "You were the kid in the corner. You saw the whole thing. You are the Princess."_

"_I don't think so."_

"_What??" _

"_I remember seeing those people, but I don't remember being a princess."_

_My hope sunk slightly, "How can you not remember? What do you remember?"_

"_Blue peoples, some stuff my mommy told me, and…. Oh! The blue peoples killing their friends."_

"_That's it?"_

"_Uh-huh."_

"_You remember your name?" _

"_Molly."_

"_Your real name."_

"_I choose Molly."_

"_The. Name. Your. Parents. Gave. You." I stressed each word as my small bit of patience for this game began to disappear. _

"_I don't know."_

"_I can't believe this, a psyche with memory issues."_

"_It's all just really hard to remember." Molly pouted slightly and bit her bottom lip. "I just can't remember those things."_

_So this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. I was sure this girl was the princess, and that she knew something nobody in Lenox would have even dared to imagine. But this kid didn't even believe that she was the princess. And she didn't seem too interested in accepting the truth about who she really was. Why did she not believe me anyway? Aside from the misinformation about the death of the Lenox clan, I felt my answers were pretty solid. _

"_I remember something." Molly nodded her head with a big grin. _

"_What?" My hopes rose, even though my mind said it was a bad idea. _

"_My mom was also called mother." She nodded her head and furrowed her thin brows as if she had just explained some scientific breakthrough. _

"_I see…" I rubbed my temples and let out a sigh. "Molly, the way I see this we have one option." The little girl set her drawings on the floor then plopped down in front of me with an expression of true interest on her small face. "The only real solution to this mess is to figure out what happened to the other royals. That is the only missing piece. If I can find out what happened to them, I can prove that you are the real princess." _

"_How you going to find the blue peoples?" _

"_Um," I hadn't exactly thought this plan through and even little Molly could tell. "I have my ways." _

"_What ways?" _

"_I'll talk to the guards in the real world." _

"_So they will tell you where the mean blue peoples are?"_

_Actually, that was probably something Axel would be dead set against. I could see the look of shock on his face now. There was no way Ax would agree to let me run out to the Morph's land alone. He'd probably want to create a search party or something. But, that would be a far worse idea then me going after them alone. If there really were morph spies in the castle, they would probably hear Axel's plans and alert the other morphs of the oncoming attack. Then all the guards would end up running into a giant trap. _

_No, it would be best if I went alone. All I needed was some directions to the Morph lands. Besides, I wasn't going to get into any fights or such. This was purely a scouting mission. I need to see how many of them exist and whether or not they really have the Lenox family. Once I got my information straight, I could go plan an attack with Axel and the other guards. _

"_Yes," I looked at Molly and had to swallow my guilt as the lie left my lips. "They will tell me the directions." _

"_Good luck." Molly smiled at me and gave me a quick wink. "You can do it. You're a hero!" _

_I laughed and gave Molly a small smile, "Whatever you say kid." _

"Rogue??"

_I leaned my head back and watched as the dark space above became covered in a breathtaking light. So it was already time to go back to the real world? Too bad, I was kinda starting to like hanging out with Molly. "I have to go Molly." I looked over and saw the little girl had tears running down her pink cheeks. "Don't worry kid. I'll be back soon. Promise." Molly smiled and waved good bye to me as the light grew brighter and covered everything in a warm coating of white rays. _

"Rogue??" Kitty's voice reached my ears first as my brain settled back into the world outside my cranium. "Rogue can you hear me??"

"Yea," I mumbled and rubbed my sore eyes. "Everyone in Lenox can hear ya Kit."

The hyper girl wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder for a moment. "I was like so worried after Logan told us you passed out." Slowly, Kitty let go of my arm and moved away from the bed side so Kurt and a few other x-men could move closer to me. "Logan said you two were talking and then you just went out."

"Something like that," I mumbled and looked around the room to see where they had placed my body. It was pretty easy to recognize the metallic look of the medical ward. Somehow I always ended up spending time in this place. Accident prone, I guess. But either way, I was glad they hadn't left me on the kitchen floor. "So how long was I out?"

"A few hours." Ophelia pushed her way through the huddled x-men and stood at my bed side with a protective look upon her face. The Earthlings picked up on the lady's mood and backed up a few steps to avoided ticking off the nurse any further. "I think it would be best if you rested in the medical wing until we can figure out what caused you to pass out."

"Yea... Sure." I was barley listening to Ophelia as my eyes scanned the room. The only way to get the information I needed was to either find a map or, as much as I hated the expression, tap a knowledgeable source. My eyes caught sight of Axel positioned stubbornly by the door frame and a new idea began to form in my mind. In truth, the idea was horrible and probably rather cruel. But I couldn't let that stop me now. The only way to put all this mess to bed was to figure out the Morphs' secrets. I would just have to try rather hard to apologize to Axel when he came back to world of the conscious.

"I think it would be best if you leave the Princess alone for a few moments." Ophelia began to usher the closest x-men to the door.

"You sure you're gonna be okay Rogue?" Kitty watched me with nervous blue eyes that seemed genuinely caring.

"Yea," I ran a hand through my messy brown locks and nodded my head slowly, "I think everything is going to get better very soon."

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**Thanks for reading! Please review! ^ .^**


	32. No One Falls Softly in Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own the x-men. I do own the Lenox dimension and all the Lenox World Characters. **

**If you like the story, please review! And if you don't well please feel free to leave some constructive criticism. **

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By dinner time, I was beginning to feel slightly ignored by two specific males. Not that I by any means condoned their annoying, macho-headed squabbles. They were still annoying, but I had expected to have seen at least one of them. I couldn't have injured their prides that much. Remy was far too pushy to give up after a simple squabble. As for Jude, he had constantly been by my side for the past few weeks. Where were those two? Why did they decide to run away the moment I might actually want to see them?!

"Dinner!" Ophelia announced cheerily and placed a tray of food on my lap. "I thought after a day like today, you would enjoy a traditional meal."

I watched the foreign dish with an uneasy stomach. It almost resembled spaghetti, but I had never seen noodles that shade of blue before. Not to mention, that where the marinara sauce should have been there was some kind of chunky pink salsa thing. I poked the blue noodles with my fork and watched them wiggle. What the hell was this? Chunky Pepto-Bismol and blueberry Jell-O surprise? Gross!

"Uh… Thanks."

"You're welcome your majesty." Ophelia watched me with eager eyes as if she expected more of an excited answer to escape my lips.

With a great regret looming in my mind, I picked up my fork and forced a piece into my mouth. After living with poor cooks most of my life, I was pretty used to swallowing food so quickly that it wouldn't leave a taste in my mouth. As my throat tried to choke the small bite down, my tongue screamed for mouthwash to get rid of the aftertaste. "It's good." I cleared my throat and tried to swallow back the urge to regurgitate. "Really, it is…"

Ophelia smiled at me and clasped her hands together happily. "Wonderful. I'll go tell the cooks how much you like it! It's so nice that you still love a dish from your youth."

I waited until Ophelia left the room to jump out of the bed and toss the chunky dish into the trash can on the other side of the room. Once the plate was scrubbed clean, I tossed some tissues and pieces of paper into the can to hide the evidence. "That Alex chick was crazy if she actually ate that stuff!" I grumbled under my breath and downed my glass of water.

"You made her rather happy Chère." Remy's voice whispered into my ear and forced a jump out of my tired body.

"What the hell??" I turned around and growled at him as he placed a single finger over his lips.

"No need to wake the sleeping dogs Chère." He nodded his head toward the closed door.

The glass on the door's window was heavily frosted, but I could still see a blurry Axel slumped against the door. My brave guard, the man who was swore to keep a vigilant eye out for danger was sleeping soundly in front of my room while I had a conversation with a thief. Honestly though, I couldn't blame Axel for being so tired. He had been working so hard to keep me safe, that he couldn't help but crash eventually. What really bothered me was how easily Remy had gotten around the guards and security system. If he could do it, what was to stop the Morphs from doing it as well?

"Chère?" Remy's hand flashed in front of my face as he tried to draw my attention. "Lost in a dream again mon petit?"

"Shut up." I growled at him finding it strangely pleasing to have someone other than Ophelia as company. Remy chuckled and followed me as I trudged back over to my bed. The Cajun grinned ever widely as I perched on the end of the bed and tried my hardest to look annoyed by his very presence.

"Remy thought you might like a visitor." He grinned and gave me a wink.

"What makes you think I'd want _you_ to be that visitor swamp rat?"

"Qui d'autre mon amour presque voudrait? (Who else would my love want near?)"

"What?"

"Just had a feeling." The Cajun grinned that special grin, which only came out when he was able to pull something over a person's head.

"Yea right…" I rolled my eyes and popped my fingers so my brain would have something to focus on. The last thing I needed was to space out in front of, Mister thinks-he-is-irresistible. With my luck, Remy would jump on the opportunity as quickly as a starving man would jump on a free buffet. "That still don't mean I want you here."

"Remy brought a gift." The boy dug into one of his trench coat pockets and pulled out a neatly wrapped Baby Ruth bar. Slowly, the boy waved the chocolaty treat in front of me. "He thought you might like an old favorite." My stomach offered up a large growl and a grin grew on the Cajun's face. "Looks like Remy brought the right gift."

"I don't need your candy." My eyebrows furrowed as my stomach twisted into uncomfortable knots.

"Ah oui," He shook his head back and forth. "You are probably still filled with the delicious blue spaghetti no?"

The very thought of that disgusting concoction sent my stomach into a tizzy. Before my pride and the little self-respect I had left could tell me not to, I reached out and took the candy bar from the southern boy. The dose of humiliation taking the treat gave me, was washed away by the gooey caramel flavoring working its way around my mouth.

Remy watched me devour the chocolate bar in silence at first, but by the time I had eaten about half of it he couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "Good?"

I swallowed the bite in my mouth and shook my head side to side, "Not bad, I guess."

"Ah Chère, you wound Remy's pride." The boy sat down on the bed beside me and tried his best to look innocent and sad.

"It was pretty good Cajun. Thanks."

The simple phrase sparked a smile on the boy's face. "About time Chère," He jumped slightly as my elbow met his rib cage, then let out a small laugh. "Remy just kidding petite."

We sat in silence as I finished the last of the chocolate bar then threw the wrapper away. As much as I wanted to pretend Remy's company bothered me, I knew it wasn't true. Normally, I would have wanted to be left alone to plan my actions for the coming evening, but everything was already planned out to a T. And that meant I would have nothing to do until midnight. Aside from worry over whether or not my plan would work.

"You seem to be feeling better," The boy gave me a once over as I walked back to the bed and sat closer to the head rest.

"I'm fine. Just had one of the normal annoyance spells." I pointed to my skull and noticed his eyes flicker slightly. "Nothing new, really."

"Must be hard," Remy's voice came out slowly and sounded almost kind.

"What?"

"Having so many thoughts floating around in your head." He shrugged his shoulders softly and stared at my eyes. "Never know which thoughts are your own and which thoughts are theirs."

The boy's words took me by surprise. I wasn't sure if it was the fact Remy was acting like he genuinely cared, or the fact that what he said made complete sense that startled me. Part of me was excited to hear that someone understood how hard it was to work through my muddled thoughts, but the other part of me felt slightly threatened by how close the boy had gotten to my feelings.

"It isn't that bad." I mumbled nonchalantly and leaned back against the pillows propped up against the head board. "It's just strange when the cravings hit."

"Cravings?" The boy leaned forward and kept a quizzical eye on my face; though I swear I saw one of his other eyes glance at my, thankfully flat, stomach.

"Not that kind of craving Swamp rat!" I huffed out the answer to him and self-consciously wrapped my arms around my waist.

"What?" He asked innocently, though I could see the briefest glow of relief in his eyes.

"Mainly it's your fault anyway."

"Moi?"

"Yes. You put the damn cravings in my head all the time."

"You have cravings for Remy?" A grin spread quickly across his chiseled face and sent a small, strangely exciting shiver down my back.

"Hell no, Cajun." I grumbled at him and tried to look angry. "Nicotine. Your persona always wants nicotine."

"Ah," He nodded his head slowly and seemed appeased by that answer. "Remy could see that being a request from him." I hadn't noticed him pull it out, but the boy was now rolling a single cigarette between his index finger and thumb.

"Yea, well that don't mean I'm gonna start that stuff."

"Non," Remy shook his head and kept rolling the cigarette absent mindedly. "If Remy's Chère gave in to all the persona's wishes, she would be in as Logan would say merde profonde (deep shit)."

"What makes you say that?"

"Remy knows that you have a few pyro's bigger than him in your head Chère."

I could practically hear the Australian fire lover's persona cackle in the back of my head. Maybe Remy was right for once. There were definitely worse personas to listen to then his. All the Remy persona wanted was a cigarette and a chance to flash various romantic ideas in my head. John, the fire bug, had wanted to set the x-mansion ablaze so badly that I had found myself doodling pictures of matches on homework sheets and textbooks. Of course, that little problem had earned me a trip to the guidance counselor. They had said something about being afraid I had an unnatural obsession with matches and fire. The sessions hadn't been too bad. At least I had refrained from telling them the voices in my head made me do it.

"I guess you have a point there." I shrugged my shoulders and watched him curiously for a moment longer then I should have.

"Something wrong?" He scooted closer to me and stared straight into my eyes, but I knew better then to think I had his complete attention. Remy did not have the ability to focus solely on one person. The thief in him was always listening for approaching danger, or in this case approaching Lenox-ians.

"What did you do all day?"

The boy blinked and appeared slightly startled at my question for a moment. "Pourquoi? You miss Remy today?"

"No," I snapped the reply a little too quickly. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't causing trouble. I know you Remy, that deviant streak in you can only stay down for so long."

"Non peu cynique? (A little Cynical no?)" He chuckled softly and held out his hands to show they were empty. "Remy was a good boy Chère. Scout honor and all."

"You were a scout?"

"Non," He grinned and leaned closer. "Too much of a dare devil for them."

I rolled my eyes at the smug look of pride that crossed his face. Only Remy would hold that kind of thing as a ground breaking accomplishment. "You never answered my question." His head tilted slightly towards the right as he waited patiently for me to speak again. "What did you do all day?"

"A little of this, a little of that." He shrugged and pulled out a deck of cards from an inside jacket pocket. "Maybe one card slip away, but other than that Remy mainly practice." He shuffled the deck like an expert and grinned when his eyes caught me starring at the quickly moving cards.

I pulled myself back and shook my head to clear out any day dreamy thoughts. There was absolutely no way I was going to fall into that trap. All I had to do was find something to focus on. Let's see, my brain tried to remember something it could use and amazingly something came up rather quickly.

"What did you mean by one slipped away?"

"Remy just let it go a little too far, but everything work out alright." He chuckled slightly as a small bit of that devilish flair sparkled in his eyes.

I can't tell you how I knew, but I can promise you I knew. Something had gone down between Jude and Remy. Those two block heads had gotten into some kind of duel or fight or something else stupid and Remy seemed to have possibly won. So all the time I had been wondering where those two were, they had been battling out some juvenile issue.

"Did you hurt him?"

Remy huffed slightly and put all but one of his cards away.

"Remy?"

"He is fine Chère." The boy grumbled out the words in a rather deep voice. "Silver spoon and all."

"I see," Maybe it had been Remy who lost their argument. "Did you get hurt?"

His eyes softened as he took the question deeper then I had thought he would. "Remy been through worse." He grinned at me and flipped the single card in his hand. "Besides, just 'cause them guards broke it up don't mean Remy didn't get in a few good hits." He laughed happily and leaned back on the bed as I rubbed my temples in annoyance.

"You two are a piece of work you know that?"

" 'Course." The Cajun chuckled happily and leaned closer to me. "But Remy also knows that his Chère is just as head strong and stubborn as he is."

"I ain't stubb-" The boy placed the card against my lips and pressed his own on top of the warm plastic. It was rather strange to feel his lips press against mine. Well technically they were pressing against the plastic card, but either way it was somewhat nice to be that close to someone.

The boy's hand reached out smoothly and worked its way into my wavy brown hair. As he twisted his fingers in the curls and tilted his head in a desperate attempt to deepen the kiss, my brain told me to push him away and slap him for even daring to try such a thing. But my brain wasn't in control anymore. It was like some other force had crept into my body and convinced the rest of me to declare mutiny against my brain. All I could focus on now was the strange mix of cologne and smoke wafting from the Cajun's body. Once Remy's body weight started to shift and I felt him begin to lean into my body my brain began to yell in a panic. Of course it wasn't until my own body began to lean back accordingly that my brain declared full panic and ripped back its control of my mind.

Quickly my hands shot out and pushed the boy's chest firmly away from mine. "Stop," I panted slightly as my lungs tried their hardest to catch a full breath. "We can't…"

Remy stared at me with concern in his eyes. It was strange to see more than just the average amount of emotions in his eyes. Could it possibly be that this meant more to him then I knew? No, that wasn't possible. This was Remy LeBeau the mansion's famous womanizer. There was no way this was more than just a thrilling fling to him.

"I'm sorry." I bit my lip and shook my head as I tried to ignore the feelings coming over my tired brain. "I just… I-"

A warm hand cupped my shoulder gently and convinced me to look back up to Remy's face. He offered me a soft expression that put my scattered brain in a sort of peaceful state. "Remy wait Chère. He wait this long, and he will always wait for you." His hand left my shoulder and traveled down my clothed arm. I hated what the strange look of longing in his eyes did to me. The urge to wrap my arms around him and forget everything around me was growing stronger. How could I even think such things about a guy who was as unstable and wild as Remy? That was just asking for more trouble, which I did not need at all.

"Yea right…" I mumbled and felt my heart begin to shatter as the boy let go of my body and offered me a more emotionless expression. I couldn't explain it to him, but this was better. The less attached we were to each other, the easier it would be to fulfill my princess duties… and of course, the easier it would be for my heart to break. "I think I'm just going to get some sleep now."

"That would be good for you." Remy conceded in a strangely calm voice. "Remy just hope his Chère remember to have sweet dreams of him."

"Yea right." I swatted his hand away as the boy tried to caress my hair again. "Keep dreaming Cajun." The boy offered me one more heart-stopping smile, then scrambled out the balcony into the night. I pulled my pillow over my head once he was gone and took a few jagged breaths. "Yes… keep dreaming. Because that is all we can ever be."

The wet salty taste of tears hit my mouth as the jagged breaths continued to wrack my lungs. "Damn Love." I grumbled and pressed the pillow harder to my face as more tears of mixed emotions tried to drown me.


	33. A four foot Robin Hood

**Disclaimer: I do not own x-men, but I do own the Lenox dimension and my various OCs.**

**Hello everyone! Hopefully a few of my old friends are still on here. : ) I have been gone for quite a long time when it comes to this story, but I have found a new interest in this tale. As mentioned in the updated summary, I am going to try and produce chapters of higher grammatical quality. I was pumping them out so quickly last time that they started to get messy. Also, I am trying to find someone who has more art talent then I to create images of the characters (cannon and OC) in this story. And last, but not least, I added quite a few songs to the inspiration page. For those who don't know, they are songs I list on my profile that have something to do with the story or help create the mood of the story. Feel free to check them out sometime. **

**Here is your new chapter boys and girls : )**

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Once the waves of emotions had settled in my stomach, I pulled the pillow from my face and focused on taking a few deep breaths. Internally, my plan had always been and still was to do some scouting and come right back. But even I knew there was a good chance this would not go according to plan. Too many unstable variables, as the Professor would say in our training exercises, leads to failure. It was solid advice. Solid advice I didn't have the luxury of being able to follow. Time was of the essence and I was going to have to summon whatever strength I had left to face the future.

I left the bed and crept over to the door where Axel stood guard. One look into the hallway alerted me to the fact the giant had once again fallen asleep. His arms were crossed and the tip of his chin touched his chest with each open-mouthed snore. "Axel?"

"Huh?" He coughed softly and stared up at me with sleepy eyes, "Princess? Is something wrong?"

"No. I just wanted to know if you'd come in here for a minute."

"Now?" He glanced at the watch on his wrist and blinked, "Alright. But it's late. You should be getting some rest."

After he entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed, I softly closed the door and joined him on the mattress. Large circles decorated the lower half of his eyes and he seemed unable to go longer then three minutes without letting go of a large yawn. The poor boy needed a decent rest, and he was never going to get that with me being in the castle. Wasn't this proof I was doing him a favor in some twisted way? He would relax once I knew the Morphs' plans.

"Axel," My voice shook even as the lies tried to comfort me internally, "You were the only person who ever gave me a straight answer when I wound up in this place. You have no idea how much I owe you for that."

"I… You're welcome Rogue. But why are we talking about this no-"

"You were the first real friend I made here and you have been an amazing guard. I owe you so much."

"Rogue, what are you talking about?" His confusion and worry began to escalate.

"Just remember," I bit my tongue to give me a focus point of emotion and leaned closer to him, "I'm doing this to keep everyone safe and I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Wha-" His voice stopped almost immediately as my lips met his cheek in a gentle kiss.

The absorption began immediately and sent both of our bodies into mini seizures. In the back of my mind, I could register the grunts of confusion and shock coming from Axel's body. Luckily, for both of us, my idea to bite my tongue with a large amount of force caused my mind to snap back to reality, and pull from the touch before more serious damage could occur. Axel landed on the bed with a soft thud and appeared to be down for the count.

By using Axel's super human strength and my own, I was able to move the boy into a more natural position on the bed. Thanks to a pair of plastic medical gloves in the room's supply cabinet, I was able to gauge his pulse rate from his wrist. I wasn't sure what was a good speed or rate for the boy, but the fact there was a steady one made me feel a little better. Of course, the small bit of Axel's psyche that was running around my head was not to pleased with my actions. He didn't seem to realize how successful this_ drain_ had been. No one was dead or critically wounded, a success in my book.

With Axel taken care of, my plans shifted to how to escape the castle undetected. I knew there were guards stationed throughout the hallways and security in the air, but no one was guarding the darkened parts of the roof. Which according to my new persona was a fear he had been harboring for a while. As long as I stayed in the shadows I would be able to get out undetected.

_This is a bad idea Rogue! _

Axel's psyche pleaded with me in desperate tones as I crawled out the window and into the rooftop shadows. It was a piece of cake to find new hiding places thanks to the various towers built into the castle's design. Each stone column casted a shadow easily wide enough to create a path to the next shady spot. It also made me realize how simple it must have been for the Cajun to run around undetected.

_Please… You don't have to go alone. Rely on your friends Rogue!_

As I came to the end of the long roof, I looked into the distant horizon lit only by moonlight. I took a deep breath and looked once more to the building that held everyone I cared about in either universe. The odds were against me returning from my self-appointed scouting mission. Heck, there were hardly odds at all since the chance of death was so high. But I needed to do this for my friends and for all the people who thought I was their leader. It was time to find my inner kick-ass princess once and for all. It was time to get answers.

_No matter what happens, _I opened my eyes as my brain tried to console Axel's thoughts, _The Lenox will go down fighting to save those they care about._

_Lead on, Princess Alexandria. _

**XXX**

Judging from Axel's memories of the history of Lenox, I was able to judge where the Morph's land started and where the rest of the dimension ended. According to my unwilling guide, the first Lenox ruler had offered the clan a lush area of land perfect for farming and raising animals. Only a few years after the Morph's moved into the area, the land began to stop producing vegetation and began to transform into a desert. The rulers had tried to offer the Morph's a new plot of land or some type of assistance with their current space, but the Morph leader had refused on the grounds he believed the King had double-crossed his people. The bitter dispute had started one of many issues between the people of Lenox and the Morphs.

I landed at the edge of the forest area and stared in surprise at the land that lay before me. A stark contrast could be seen between the areas and it seemed pretty ridiculous. Behind me stood thousands of strong trees, while the space in front of me was covered in deep mounds of sand and rock. How could land that was once thick and green turn into the Sahara desert? I wasn't an ecologist or anything, but I had a strong feeling that this was definitely out of the normal range of science.

"This is the place," I rechecked the memories newly stored in my mind and squinted at images in the horizon, "But… were are the people? The homes? Anything…"

"Far from here. Just like you should be."

The voice forced a surprised jump and a knee jerk reaction, which resulted in knocking the speaker to his knees.

"Damn, super strength." Jude lay on the ground for a moment and tried to gain control of his breathing.

"Jude?" I bent down and tried to help him, though he pushed my hands away from his body and shakily stood up.

"Good plan, _mon ami_." The sarcastic Cajun leapt from a branch above and landed beside me with ease. "And now that we have had the show, let's get the dinner somewhere else."

"This isn't safe, Rogue." Jude seemed to have recovered from the light kick and was now grasping my bare hand in hopes I would pay attention to his words. "We have to get out of here."

"That is what Remy said." The Cajun rolled his eyes and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Silver spoon already told you it isn't safe outside petite. We need to get you out of here."

"No." I ignored his new nickname for Jude and pulled away from both boys, "You two need to leave. I am doing what has to be done."

"Listen to Gumbo this time." Jude followed me into the start of the desert.

"Someone been spending a little to much time with Logan…" Remy mumbled and joined us in the sand.

"You realize that this is Morph land correct?"

"Yes, Axel alerted me to that a while ago." I grumbled at Jude and tried to distance myself from the boys by a few more steps. "All I am going to do is a little surveillance work. Nothing to get your panties in a twist about boys."

"Why are you so stubborn?" Jude groaned and still followed me into the sandy terrain, "This is just handing yourself over to the villain. Stop being so hard headed!"

"Come back with us Cherie." Even Remy's voice was becoming more solid and serious. "One of these Morph's was able to do a lot of damage. Going to see them in their own battlefield alone is a suicide mission."

"There ain't gonna be any fighting!" I sighed and sat down on one of the few rocks jutting up from the sand. "In fact, if you two hadn't shown up I could have already been done with my surveillance."

"Darn, we stopped you from charging stubbornly into sure death." Jude looked at Remy with fake sympathy for my plight, "How will we ever live with ourselves?"

"Just have to struggle through, Remy guess."

"Ha. Ha." My annoyance grew, as the boy's suddenly decided to team up. "Aren't you two clever?"

"Two shows and now we must leave for that dinner Cherie." Remy stepped closer to me as I offered the two a sarcastic clap.

"First off, I ain't leaving. But you two knuckle heads are." My hands broke from the clap and rested on the large stone below me.

Without warning the winds began to whip our trio harder then before. Grains of sand flew around the air pathways and stung as they scratched my eyes and face. The boys coughed and tried to cover their faces from the onslaught of the strange sandstorm. Below my feet the sands began to shift and open to reveal a rather dark hole. Despite the pain in my eyes, they automatically flew open and stared in shock at the new opening. There was no way sand could cover a giant black hole! That just wasn't possible…

"Rogue!" Jude called my name in vain as he and Remy were pushed towards the woods by the storm. "Don't go in there!"

"Get out Cheire!" Remy called loudly and offered quite a few sand filled coughs to the statement.

"I'm trying!" The force of the hole pulled me like a newly overpowered gravity. With a furrowed brow, I tried to put my energy into flying away from the darkness's hold. But even my strength was no match for the new force that wanted me to explore its unknown space. "Get away before it sucks you in!"

"Rogue!" Remy's voice called out to me once more before the sand enveloped me and I fell into the darkness.

The next sensation my body became aware of was a dousing of ice-cold water. I swam desperately for the surface of the water and practically leapt out of the liquid to take a desperate gulp of air. Between spitting out the water in my mouth and trying to cough the rest up from my lungs, I noticed a bank on the side. I swam over and pulled myself onto the concrete embankment.

As I lay on my back in an attempt to regain my balance and thought processes the room started to focus in my line of sight. The walls were covered in tall rock coated designs, like some sort of ancient grotto. The ceiling was dark minus a few well-spaced torches along the grotto's path. It baffled me that I couldn't see any sand in the ceiling above my head. Hadn't I just been sucked down into a secret place under the desert? Shouldn't there be a semblance of the top landscape on the ceiling?

"Hey Patchy!" A high-pitched voice brought my attention back to real world.

I didn't recognize the sound, but the footsteps were growing closer so I flew into the shadows of the ceiling and waited. The sight that greeted me next was surprising to say the least. Two large boys with dark blue skin and yellow eyes walked down the hallway with a smaller child they drug by his ankles. The smaller boy had blue skin with various patches of tan covering his face and hands. Unlike the larger boys, his clothes were ratty and his body appeared rather malnourished.

"I thought we told you to stay out of our part of town Patchy!" One of the boys let go of the child's ankle and the other lifted the boy up into the air by his still captured ankle.

"You don't own this path!" The tiny spitfire tried to put up a fight as the boy's laughed in his face.

"Oh, but we do." The bully not holding the child grabbed the boy's wild hair and pushed his face into the wall below my hiding place. "See that?"

"No…"

"Look closer." He smacked the captured child's face into the stonewall and chuckled. "Real Morph's always mark their land with the blood of their victims. Of course, you wouldn't know what it is like to be a real Morph, would you?"

"I'm as much a Morph as anyone!" The small child growled and tried once again to scratch and punch his captors.

"Patchy wanna play?" The boy holding his ankle chuckled darkly and started to swing the boy side to side in an effort to create momentum before his next attack.

The sight was too much for me to take at that point. Call it my own stubborn stupidity, but I was not going to let the kid get maimed on my watch. Without warning, I leapt from my hiding place and swooped down to grab the kid. The bullies started to panic and with a little assistance from my quick flight, fell into the freezing water I had just escaped moments earlier. The tiny boy and I hid in the shadows once again, with my covered forearm placed firmly over his mouth. No sense in getting caught before the bullies ran away in fear.

Once the kids were gone, I released the boy's mouth and flew both of us down to the ground. I rung out my wet shirt and waited for the boy to start blinking once again. He stared at me like I had some kind of neon horn growing out of my forehead. Then again, I probably looked strange in a land filled with blue people. "You okay, kid?"

"Your… Your…" He mumbled the first few words then pointed at me in shock, "You're the Lenox Princess."

"You know about that stuff?"

"Of course! I'm ten not stupid." He rolled his eyes, and then grew a small smirk on his multi-colored face. "Everyone has been talking about you. All the elders have been telling us that isn't safe cause the Lenox people are different. It has them totally upset."

"Let me guess, you're planning on telling them I'm here?" Internally I battled the necessity of knocking the kid out versus not hurting innocents.

"Heck no!" He laughed heartily and slapped his knee like an old man. "The motto of the DG is to protect the different and take down the elders. And having you here is the biggest kick in the pants we could give them. Besides, you saved my life… though if anyone asks, the story is that I saved yours."

"The DG?"

"Yeah, The Dirt Gang. I'm the leader, by the way." He puffed out his boney chest and gave his right bicep a pound with his fist. "We are made up of all the people the elders think are rejects and…. Well dirt. We stick together, take care of our own, and try to figure out how to get rid of the people in charge."

"The people don't like the elders at al-"

"Look, I'll tell you all about it, but not here. Put my jacket on your head and follow me. We'll be safer in the house."

I took the sweatshirt from him and tied the item over my head like a bonnet. It did little to hide my non-blue skin, but it was all I had to work with. The boy lead me down the path a few feet and pointed to a semi-large rock leaned against the stonewall. I pushed it aside for him and we both crawled into the dark tunnel. Honestly, I knew better then to blindly follow someone in the Morph world. But there was something about the kid that made me want to listen to his story. I had a feeling he would be able to prove that not all Morph's are evil. Not to mention the fact, the boys from earlier would probably be rushing back to our interaction scene with angry and suspicious adults. Following this boy was the only good option available.

At the end of the tunnel was a small beacon of light that encouraged the child to quicken his speed. I followed as best I could in the cramped tunnel and was only a few feet behind him when I found the entrance to the supposed house. When my head popped up, I was immediately surrounded by children of various ages with different skin conditions. A few were totally blue minus an arm or leg, while others had practically no blue what so ever. One small girl, with a bandaged leg, hobbled to me and offered a tiny hand to help me out of the hole.

"Are you really the princess?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Pretty much..." I mumbled and crawled out of the hole. "Where is this place?"

"This," The boy from earlier proudly declared, "Is the Dirt Gang's hideout. It is the most secret place in all of the land!"

"Heck, the whole village is hard to find. How did you guys make it underground?"

"The elders said that it used to be really nice up above, but the Lenox people cursed the land and it was only because of the elders that we were able to go underground and survive." The small girl sat next to me and seemed a little unsure about whether her elders were correct or not when it came to Lenoxians.

"That's what they want you to think." The mini-man stepped forward once more and stared at each of his members in turn, before looking at me. "My mom was a spy in the elders meetings for a long, long, long time. She was the one that discovered they were all crooks. They hurt the land and blamed it on the Lenox people cause they wanted all the Morph's to hate them. A lot of the Morph's want to try and meet the Lenox, but they know there is a really big punishment if you go up to the topside without permission."

So the leaders of the Morphs were the ones poisoning the minds of the followers. "Where is your mom? I need to talk to her about what she knows."

"She, uh…" The child looked down to his shoes and avoided the question.

"Batal's mommy died in the big raids when he was a kid." The tiny girl stopped fiddling with her bandaged leg and looked up at me. "A lot of our mommies and daddies died then, but Batal said we could be a family together."

"I… I'm sorry." As I looked at each of the children in turn, I couldn't help but begin to feel a new sympathy for the Morphs. They weren't evil monsters like the citizens of Lenox thought. They were people trying to survive under some type of crazed dictator.

"It's okay," Batal shrugged his shoulders and tried to regain his tough status, "The big raids were scary but we got through them. They got our parents but they didn't get us."

"Why were there raids?" The court of manners would have probably sued me for being a horrible guest, but I had to find out as much as I could about the Morphs.

"Well my mom and a lot of other adults were spying on the elders and the elders got wise to it. They had originally let some non-Morphs live here but they were kept in certain places only. But once they caught mom, the elders decided that anyone who was not a pure Morph was a danger to the whole group. So they sent out people who killed anyone who wasn't a Morph or was hiding non-Morphs."

"But they couldn't kill the kids." A different boy with only a blue arm spoke up as Batal finished the first half of the story. "We don't know why, but the elders said they could only kill adults. They sent most of us to the orphanage, but those places are just excuses to work us like dogs. So most of the kids struck out on their own."

"That's horrible." I mumbled, unable to create a more educated thought in the presence of such depressing news.

"We were the lucky ones." Batal offered me a bright smile as he praised his group. "Together we can get more food, fight off the bullies, and plot the destruction of the elders."

The words the kids used seemed almost rehearsed. I figured it was the same stuff Batal's mother had told him over and over again during her years as a spy. It was becoming very obvious that the real Morphs were peaceful and wanted to escape their underground world. But how could they get past what sounded like a rather strong opposition? Were there others who wanted to join the revolution or was the entire endeavor created and fueled by the non-pure Morphs?

"So no one likes the elders?" I asked the question easily and stood up from the dirt-covered ground.

"Well some of the rich people do." Batal scoffed at the word and directed me to the one window in the hovel. "They live near all those lights."

In the distance, I could see a large collection of colored lights twinkling. The image was soured by the closer land coated with skinny people in ragged clothes. It seemed you were either a rich Morph or a poor Morph. The people in the streets directly in front of the kid's clubhouse appeared miserable and sick. A man sat on the corner with a sign asking for some type of assistance while a woman in her late seventies dug through some trashcans. It was heartbreaking to see the people being left to suffer in such deplorable conditions. Where were the elders to help their people?!

"I need to get closer to the elders' area." I adjusted the sweatshirt on my head and headed back to the tunnel.

"What?" Batal raced in front of me and shook his head, "But you don't know about them. They can spot dirts in a heartbeat."

"Dirts? Like your club?"

"Well, that's what they call anyone who doesn't have money. The guards in their part don't allow dirts inside."

"Batal, I know it is dangerous," I knelt in front of him and touched his clothed shoulder. "But I came here to find out more about the leaders and their plans. I am not going back until I get my information."

"I'll take you then." Batal puffed out his chest again and the other kids gasped.

"Look kid, I don't want you to get hurt because of me. I'll be okay on my own." Suddenly, Wolverine's past objections to my assistance in battle began to make a bit of sense. Who knew the old gruff cared so much?

"Kid? Who are you calling a kid?" Batal grumbled out the words and stood up as tall as he could, "Without me they'd eat you alive. I know this place like the back of my hand. You _need_ me."

The kid had a pretty good point, unfortunately. "Alright. But if there is trouble you head back here. The Dirt Gang needs its leader to survive."

"Deal." The child nodded his head, and thankfully bought my secret attempt to keep him safe. "You know what princess? I bet your family is gonna be really excited to see you again."

"My…family?" A cold shiver ran down my spine as the first real clue to a live Lenox clan came my way.

* * *

**There you go guys and gals. : ) Hope it was a good chapter in your opinions. Feel free to review if you would like to. And stay tuned for the next edition. **


	34. Hatred and Tomatoes Burn The Soul

**Disclaimer: I do not own x-men, but I do own my various OCs. **

**Thank you for the review Jaye! In answer to your question, Rogue had some speculations that the Lenox family may be alive after her last discussion with Molly. But this is the first time anyone in the physical world of Lenox has mentioned the family being alive. Hope that helps. : )**

* * *

The children had gathered quite a few odds and ends during their years as scavengers. Fortunately, one of the piles of old clothes had some gloves and a hooded jacket only a few sizes larger then I normally wore. The grey cloth was stained and had a distinct odor, but it worked far better as a disguise then Batal's tiny sweatshirt.

"You must miss the big pretty gowns." The smallest girl sighed and watched me adjust the hood of my jacket.

"Actually, I never got a taste for those things."

"Are you sure you're a really real princess?" Her yellow eyes stared at me with unwavering curiosity.

"Well, I…"

"Hurry up!" Batal motioned for me to follow him out a side door. "We have to go now."

I offered the kids a small wave and dashed out after the brave boy. Batal was barely over four foot, but he definitely commanded the attention in a room. He had no problem leading me down a maze of alleyways and garbage piles with little more then a few specific gestures. The look of determined concentration and pride etched on his face reminded me of Scott. I'd have to introduce them if I ever made it out of Morph land.

"See that?" Batal crawled up the largest trash heap yet and pointed at something in the distance.

"What?" I followed him, slipping on a few cans along the way. "Whoa…"

Unlike the destitute location Batal's people lived in, the buildings in front of us were large architectural structures of wonder. The center of which was fashioned in the style of a futuristic castle. Around the castle were various smaller buildings none under three stories tall. At first I couldn't see a soul, but Batal directed my attention to the base of the futuristic castle where a throng of people could be seen.

"What are they doing there?"

"Hear the bells?" Batal cupped his ear to get a better chance of hearing the ringing instruments. "Today is one of the elders' meetings. They only have them at special times. I just don't know why they'd have one today."

A sickening drop of knowledge forced my stomach to twist uncomfortably. Special occasions, eh? What could be more special then your archenemy showing up on your own turf? Had they figured out I was in their land already? And if so, how? The only people who had seen me were the children and… the bullies.

"Where those kids from earlier important?"

Batal scoffed at my question, "They think they are big stuff just because their dads are generals."

"Crap…" Sure, the kids probably hadn't seen me well enough to pick me out of a line up. But who else would the Morphs think was flying around and causing havoc in their world? It was the perfect set-up to make the Lenox once again look like the enemy.

"This is good you know."

"How is the town having a Lenox hate meeting good?"

"Cause that means only a few guards will be watching the prison, duh."

Batal rolled his eyes at me and climbed down our junk-heap resting place to continue the journey. I scrambled after him and was surprised the boy headed straight for the crowds of people. Weren't we trying to avoid mingling with the other Morphs right now? I kept my head down and tried to look as unassuming as possible, a feat that was rather hard when your disguise could be ruined by a strong breeze.

Due to the mumbling of the crowd members and the poor quality of the sound system, I couldn't make out everything the speaker was saying. I knew it had to be some kind of hate message, but it would have been nice to be able to study what exactly the Elders were preaching. The one time I decided to stop and gaze towards the stage, Batal grabbed my covered hand and pulled as hard as he could.

"We have to go." He tugged with his tiny muscles to try and force me to move, "Please. Time is important."

I looked once more to the stage then relented. The kid had a good point after all; strike when the time is right. "Alright, alright."

When we finally left the crowd Batal led us into a darkened alleyway. Near the end was another large stone I had to push aside for the child. I was beginning to wonder how any of the kids used these tunnels when they had little to no muscle mass. Of course, the tunnel was built to accommodate a moderate sized adult so maybe it wasn't Batal but Batal's mother who had created these trails. It wouldn't be surprising to find out she had told her son every short cut and secret place in the Morph world. She had to make sure he could hide and keep living… even if she didn't.

"This one should let out at the cell level."

"Should?" I closed the rock behind us and chased the surprisingly quick child in the dark tunnel.

"You try and remember something from when you were a little kid."

As I tried to bite my tongue and avoid reminding Batal that as far as I was considered he was a little kid, the boy pointed to the small outline of light ahead. I passed him and moved the boulder just enough that we could squeeze through. If this went bad, I needed to make sure the kid could get back out without needing my super strength. Not that he would probably listen to my orders or anything like that.

"We gotta be quiet so the guards won't come in." Batal held up a finger to his lips and walked down the small rows of cells.

The prison didn't resemble anything I had seen on Earth. The whole thing appeared to have been carved out of a cave. In a few of the cells I could spot drops of liquid plinking against the stone floor. The cell bars were a moldy green color that refused to bend when I tried to snap a piece out of curiosity. Who knew they could make a jail fit to hold those with super strength?

The funny thing about the prison was the lack of criminals in the cells. Although it was small the cells could have easily fit at least three people apiece. I always imagined a land ruled by such crazy dictators would be filled with prisoners. Then again, maybe they were more aligned with the idea of killing dissenters instead of harboring them in cells. Whether I believed Molly's story about the Morph's killing their own instead of the royals or the tale everyone else believed, it still painted the group as slightly sociopathic.

"Here," Batal pulled my attention to the cell closet to the stairwell leading out of the dungeon.

"What?" I walked forward slowly, terrified of what resided in the cell.

As I reached the cell my body shook in fear of what was about to greet me. Would all the Lenox family members be sitting on the floor staring at me? Would they be healthy? Could there be some twisted plot hole that had Alex sitting with them in the cell? There was no way to tell how anything would turn out in this dang dimension. For all I knew, a giant three-headed lizard would be in that cell!

"My baby…"

My eyes focused on the sole occupant of the cell while my hands began to tremble with a new vigor. The woman was taller than me and definitely skinnier. Her eyes were sunken into her head and the bones in her face and neck were displayed far to prominently due to what appeared to be poor nutrition. The only thing that wasn't faded in her appearance was the set of large blue eyes focused on me.

"What… What did you say?" I couldn't force my voice to rise above a whisper as my feet stepped closer to the bars.

"My Alex." Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes as she reached a hand out to me through the bars. "I would know my child anywhere. My baby's alive…"

As her hand inched closer and closer to my face, my heart began to beat at an uncomfortable pace. This woman barely resembled the loving queen I had seen in so many portraits and snapshots. But there was something about the way she spoke that sent shivers down my spine. I had no real proof to speak of, but I knew in my heart that this was Queen Lydia. And with one touch she was going to be able to prove who I was believed to be or die from my poison skin.

A mere centimeter before her hand touched my cheek the thought dawned on me. If I wasn't the princess, which I still believed was the truth, then her touch would result in a shock that her frail body was nowhere near ready to take. Before I could make a more educated decision, my feet stumbled backwards and my mouth blurted out a little to loudly, "No! You can't… I can't…. we can't…"

"What's going on down there?!" A gruff voice came from the top of the stairs and forced all of our eyes to widen to the size of saucers.

"Batal. Tunnel, now."

I grabbed the back of his jacket and muttered a few curse words under my breath. The kid didn't put up a struggle as I pushed him into the dark tunnel. With him heading towards the exit, I turned my attention to the Queen. She stood by her bars and kept a hand outstretched towards me, breaking the pieces of my heart most people could never reach.

"Look, I can't tell you what's goin' on, but I'll get you out." The words were muddled as I tried to break the bars off her cell before the incoming guards found me.

"Stop…" She pleaded with me and let a few tears fall down her face. "Go, now."

"Rogue." Batal, who was apparently not going to win the listener of the year award, stuck his head back in the prison and watched me with scared eyes. "The meetings over, the guards are all coming back."

"I'm not leaving her." Damn, these bars! "Get out and I'll meet you."

"Please Rogue," Batal pleaded and stepped into the room, "They'll kill you if they catch you here."

"I'm old." The woman joined in the discussion and stared at me even harder, "Save yourself. You must live."

"I'm not leaving you here." I told her gruffly as my panic grew.

"Intruders!" The guards had finally made it into the cell area and spotted me tinkering with the bars. "Halt!"

"Run Batal!" I yelled at the boy, who for all his tough talk now stood like a deer in headlights.

Flying from the bars, I grabbed the boy and shoved him through the secret tunnel. I moved the stone back in place and shoved it so hard into the rock that it would take them a rather long time to move it again. Once that was in place, I turned to find multiple guards edging closer to my position at the end of the dungeon. There was no way out but the staircase and it didn't seem like the odds were in my favor. The gloves slipped off my hands and my entire body shifted from panic to fight mode as I took the stance Logan had taught me in my first danger room session.

"Give up now girl." The tallest of the guards growled out the order. "Who are you working for?"

"Let's just say," I floated off the ground and stared at the room before charging towards the door, "An old friend."

**XXX**

Honestly, I will never be able to figure out who technically won the fight against the guards. Sure, the next thing I became conscious of was a heavy collar around my neck, wrists, and ankles… but the guards interlaced between the sea of people, now staring at me with open mouths, had quite a few substantial injures to speak of. I'd call that a draw in any book.

Of course, as my senses began to crawl back into their correct places I couldn't help but wonder how they had gotten me weighted down and in this giant force field bubble to begin with. It was far too small to stand up in, but I managed to kneel somewhat easily. The small movement caused the crowd to gasp and physically flinch, while the two guards on either side of my bubble pointed their swords at me.

"My fellow Morphs," The oldest man I'd seen in my life spoke up from a podium three feet from my bubble, "Say hello to the most notorious and vile creature to enter our lands, Alexandria Lenox."

The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves, unsure what to make of this announcement. To people who had lived most of their lives underground hiding from an enemy they had never seen, I was probably some type of boogieman or loch ness monster. I knew a few Lenox dwellers who had admitted to Jude that they only used the tale of the Morphs as warnings for their children to stay in line. If these people practiced the same idea, that would explain why none of the children in the crowd would dare to look at me.

"We warned you that the Lenox scourge would not rest until they had destroyed our people. They sent their so-called _leader _to start the bloodbat-"

"That isn't true!" I growled from the bubble and forced the audience to let out a few wails of surprise and fear. "The Lenox do not want to hurt the Morphs."

"You claim that it wasn't them who poisoned our land and murdered thousands of innocents?" The old man remained rigid at the podium and stared into my eyes as if he dared me to speak against him.

"You want the truth?" My brows furrowed and I turned my attention from the Elder to the crowd of scared men and women, "Your Elders have been lying for years! They destroyed your land and forced you to move underground. They were the ones who refused help from the Lenox family to save your people!"

"The Lenox helping?" One man in the front of the crowd spoke up softly and seemed to be confused by the idea.

"Yes. The Lenox don't want war. The Elders are trying to make you belief that everyone above hates you."

"A likely statement." The ancient fellow spoke up again and stared out at his followers with a steely gaze. "Where were the Lenox when your ancestors were starving?"

"In their fancy castles with piles of food!" A guard on the outskirts of the group piped up in response.

"Where were the Lenox when our children died from disease?"

"Hoarding the only medicinal plants in the area!" A different guard shouted from the middle of the crowd.

"Are we going to let these corrupted self-appointed _leaders _destroy us?!" This time the ancient man shouted his statement and raised a fist to the sky.

"No!" This new guard shouted back the answer and nudged the people around him to respond. Their eyes grew larger and the fear could be read on their face with ease.

"We are the proudest bloodline in the entire dimension. It is time to rise against the oppressors! We will show them that they can no longer abuse the proud heritage of the Morphs!"

The guards and a few of the kids the guard nudged with the handle of his sword began to shout, "Morphs!"

"And what better way to send our message to the vile creatures," The Elder spoke up over the chant. "Then to destroy their precious princess? If you are the proud Morphs I know you are, you will band together and join me in the final tournament!"

"No!" I tried to cry out as the crowd fell into the guard prompted chanting of, _Death to Lenox_. "You can't listen to this jerk!"

When the first tin can hit my shoulder I fell off my kneeling pose and landed on my backside. In the crowd I could see the guards holding various pieces of garbage, minus one who probably threw the offending can. So the Morphs had rigged a force field that allowed things to enter, but not leave. _Great_. Without any restraint the super strengthed men began to pelt me with various pieces of rotten vegetables and garbage. I had never been one to enjoy food fights and after having the burn of rotten tomatoes in my eyes I knew that I never would become one.

"Stop this!" I cried out as the guards began handing ammo to the crowd. "You don't have to live under their rules! Fight back!"

As the amount of garbage flying towards me began to increase, I tried to deflect a few pieces. Lucky for me those pieces were trapped in the floor of my overcrowded bubble. As the guards loaded down the people with their weapons, the ancient one began a chant that sounded a lot like; _Destroy her! _

"No! Please listen to me! I'm not your enem-" As the newest tin can entered the bubble, I felt a hard thunk on my forehead and suddenly found the world going dark.

* * *

**We have come to the end of another chapter dear readers. I hope you enjoyed this one, even though it was shorter then the others. And if you would like to I would love a review. : ) But read and review or just read, you guys and gals rock all the same. **


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